Colds, Christmas, Coughs and Crafty

It is Thursday. Already. Not the FIRST Thursday of break, the second. this makes me a little sad. The weeks have FLOWN by... they were peppered with some fun stuff and some not so fun stuff.. we started off with a cold, that turned into a double ear infection, which equals whiny whiny, unhappy sylvie (and mommy and daddy) which led into very-little-sleep-nights. So what have I done over this break? Well....

• I took care of a very unhappy, sick kid (this lasted longer than I would have liked)
  
• I managed to get a worm in my computer which explains why I have been mia on fb and this blog for two weeks.
  
• I took sylvie to her first "sick" doctor's visit
• I sucessfully picked up antibiotic from meijer --with the help of my mom and husband(it is free, with a 2 hour wait! hello people this does not bode well for a mom with a sick kid.. just "hang out" at meijer for TWO HOURS?)
• I counted my blessings.. even though we got some bad news just days before Christmas.
• I enjoyed time with the family
• I laughed out loud at the antics of my daughter--she loves to fake-cough and buzz like a little bird these days. Such funny sounds...
  
• I watched sylvia learn new things every day--it is amazing how much she changes day by day!I love love LOVE this age! (8 months)
  
• I shopped! (so fun with that "extra" christmas cash). Although I have to admit, I have some cash saved for the day when I finally fit back into my pre-pregnancy size again. I want to buy a really fab pair of new jeans. I just can't do it yet. Can't buy the big size when slapping down big cash for a new fav pair of jeans...
  
• I spent a night out ALONE with my husband. It was wonderful--wait, beyond wonderful. It had me thinking..."oh yeah! This is why we are married, we really enjoy each other's company... THIS is how it can be when we aren't thinking about fixing the house, diapering a child, preparing food, fixing the car, working.. "you know, the list goes on and on and on.)
• I made a budget--with my husband. I think we finally agree on that! holy moley! Let' just pray we can stick to it for at least a week! (I am determined to do so!)
  
• I got crafty.... and finally learned how to use my sewing machine (I got it last christmas as a gift...I swear, this year I am going to use it a lot!). I made some gifts for some preggo-family members and friends of mine.
  
• I made some good food and sampled some yummy wine.
  
• I manged to survived two migrane headaches--one on Christmas eve and one the day after Christmas.
• I made some new year's resolutions--I won't write them down yet, I still have a few hours to re-nig on them.
  

Yep, well, that is a wrap for today. Happy New Year!

The season of Giving...

On Fridays at school I tell my kids a story from my life. They are usually around the theme "God at work", but sometimes they are just random, or funny, or the first thing that pops into my head.
Today is that day in the teacher's year where gifts literally pile up on the desk. It is a bit overwhelming, and it makes me so thankful for the kids and the parents that pray and support me each day. People can be so generous! What a blessing it is...it makes me want to be generous.. to give more...and it makes me so thankful.
For today's story, I told the kids something that happened to me a few weeks ago that was one of the most random acts of kindness/generosity I have recieved in a while. It goes like this...
We have a very large 8 month old child. So large that as of a few weeks ago (or, actually, probably BEFORE a few weeks ago) she was in need of a new car seat. As you many of you know, car seats are not inexpensive! And, since we have two cars, we needed two, StaT! Due to the high cost, Christmas spending and a frugal Dutch husband, we started scouring craigslist for a seat. I kinda had my heart set on a Britax Marathon, since it got such great reviews and seemed to be very safe. Of course, it is also more expensive than most seats.. but hey, it is the safety of our child we are talking about here right? right.
Within a few days, Randy found a listing for two marathons, only one and a half years old, for $100 each. So he emailed... pronto! He found out that the seller already sold one (just a few hours after it was posted!) but said she still had the other one and it was for sale. Since she lived in Ada, Randy told her I might be over after work on Monday to take a look. Well, come to find out, this home was a good 25 minutes from work and another 30 minutes home, so I decided to bag it and asked if we could come later. She said that was fine.From my email she learned of my job as a teacher at acs and let me know her kids attended school there. small world! After dinner on Monday night, Rand scooted over to her home and checked out the seat. It was in perfect condition and just the model we'd hoped for. They talked for a bit and when he took out the cash to pay her, she told him to keep it and just take the seat! She explained that she "..really loved ACS and that it was something she'd love to do for our family. Merry Christmas!"
Holy moley! What a wonderful and unexpected gift! God IS faithful to us and certainly does supply all of our needs. Wowsers... time to pay it forward, right? Have you experienced any RAK's (random acts of kindness) lately? If so, I'd love to hear about them....
Merry Christmas!

thankfully I didn't wear the UGLIEST sweater...

Each year since I've been married to randy, (that is how I remembered that this was the "4th annual") I host a little cookie exchange for my friends. It is a fun idea--make a few dozen christmas-y cookies and then exchange with some friends and get a great variety to share and give away. On this occasion, which gives us an excuse to get away from the holiday crap--I mean--bliss--, we drink some wine, we laugh and we talk about our improved baking skills.
This year I believe that the party was an improvement on year's past. Not only were the guests asked to bring scrumptious cookies but also, to wear an ugly christmas sweater. Let's just say there was no disappointment in the sweater or cookie department! The cookies were very tasty and the sweaters.. really ugly. You can't see it on this pic, but jeanine's even had a stitched panda on the back. Oh and Beckys--it had lots of little frogs in VERY bright, nasty colors. (as a side, her kids, aged 2 and 4, LOVED the sweater and gave her compliments on her "pretty sweater mommy." I think this is why (shudder) the sweaters still remain on shelves and are purchased in department stores today.) Lisa's was a gift from randy-- nice present detail, really) from white elephant's year's past and the other Lisa wore a giant tinsel-y bow which I thought was really creative (she didn't have a sweater on hand, so she improvised well). Anyhow, the night was a lot of fun and here is the pic to display the silliness. Maybe this should be part of my photo Christmas card next year?

merry christmas to us!

instead of random, "I don't really need this but thanks," gifts this year, randy and I decided to save up and purchase an SLR camera that we've been coveting for the past several years. After six months of saving "extra" pennies, some generous cash gifts after sylvie's birth, & some best buy gift certifiates from christmas of '07 (not joking) we finally took the plunge and bought the sucker yesterday! we are already enjoying it so much. It is a blast having a camera with a fast shutter speed to catch all of the precious moments of our little one. Of course, as I write this, randy is scouring the owner's manual to learn every little detail. Me, on the other hand, I'll just plan on learning from him;-) I'm a hands-on type gal when it comes to those sorts of things. above is the first "batch" of pics from today. i am happy to report that we only saved 59 of the pics we took ;-)

paper sabatoge

Well winter is here with a fury and thanks to winter, I have had the last two mornings off. Pretty sweet deal for me but the weather outside IS frightful. It was so bad today that Rand was let off work 2 hours early. Woot! Oh and he went IN to work late because we hit our local joint for breakfast this morning. It was so delightful.

During this unexpected time off, I have had the opportunity to get some stuff done around the house, including wrapping the few presents I have purchased. Well, as you can imagine, my dear bun was VERY excited about all this crinkling paper and bows and the like. So excited that she decided to completely ruin a whole roll of paper while I was busily wrapping like a Christmas elf. But how can I not love the sweet smile when I looked up to see my on-sale-from-tj paper all amuck? She really does have me wrapped around that little finger already...A view (?) through the front windows this morning.

Fred Meijer Fun Times

To celebrate the Christmas season and have some fun old-fashioned family fun time, we headed out to Frederick Meijer Gardens with the fam early on Saturday morning. It was beautiful to walk through the gardens, to see the Christmas trees all decorated up for the season and watch the snow fall softly outside the atrium windows amidst the green palms, orchids and other tropical plants. Sylv and auntie Jill

Sylvia with grammy ;-)
Auntie Jill, buddy (in utero) and me, just hanging out in the tropical part of the gardens...ahhh.

A rare shot of me and randy, just hanging out, while the fam "busy-ed" themselves with our sweetie.

snow day, snow bunny

What a lovely thing it is to be a teacher during the winter on some select days! Much to my surprise, I woke up yesterday morning the news that school was cancelled and I had a whole day home with the bun. Woo-hoo!

We had lots of fun, including putting her hair up in pigtails for the very first time, reading some books, rolling around on the floor and playing with everything but her toys (for whatever reason, she loves the remote, the plastic container she eats her food from, a spoon, and other miscellaneous "mommy and dadddy" items), and going outside to see and touch the snow in her big-girl snow suit.

Gary: The search & find trip '09

Here is our yearly after-thanksgiving destination: The Voormitaag Tree farm. We go in search of the perfect Christmas tree, who my husband affectionately refers to as "Gary" or "Gar-Bear."

Here is our little bun, all snugged up in her car seat, ready for her premiere adventure of tree hunting with her silly parents.

We decided she would have to "Bjorn it" in the field. She is a heavy little girl! She was also very interested in the trees and kicked her legs and arms for the majority of the hunt.

The view from above... A year ago, I could not see my feet due to the belly. Now it is due to the 20 lb 7month old...I am far more fond of this year's reason.

Randy with Gary, the '09 tree, just before it was cut..

Me and bun-bun. Not sure what is so exciting down on the ground....(?)Happy as ever to go home!

family photos.. take 1

laughs and giggles

Here are some recent "laughs" from the homefront. The first, my daughter's crazy, wild hair saga continues...

The second is a video of a few moments of "hangin with dad" in the living room

Hope you had a super-terrific saturday...

sylvie at seven and a deal.

She still loves her feet!

Being silly in the high chair!

It is hard for me to believe that our little pumpkin is over SEVEN months old already. It is frightening how time flies, actually. Everyone tells you that, but when you see this tiny little beauty transform before your eyes, it is truly a wonder.

We have been busy in the setsma household. I had conferences this week and last, rand has been super busy with work (which is a good thing!) and we've had lots of opportunities to hang out with friends and celebrate life.

This time of year is one of my favorites and I am looking forward to some good times with family over the next few weeks. We have lots on the calendar, but I will continue to be grateful for the opportunities we have to be with others and to celebrate this season. (Despite the grumbling I might do about how crazy life feels!)

In other news, Sylvie's newest "trick" is shaking her head like, "no, no" (we say, "na na" so she does not learn "no" early). It is SO funny! She gets this supercilious grin on her face and is so deliberate in shaking her chubby little head! love it!

Tomorrow we are going to celebrate the upcoming birth of our very first nephew! My sister in law, Becky, is about 7 months preggo with baby #1. I can't wait to meet him and am looking forward to some good times with Randy's fam. I'll try to remember to post some pics.

Here is my "DEAL for the DAY": This is all over the "mom blogs," but there is a promo for 50 FREE photocards from SeeHere. Just go to www.seehere.com and type in "newbaby" in the promo code line when you check out! I did it tonight and am a little miffed that I spent about 50 bucks getting sub-par cards from a different vendor! The offer is not valid for long, however, so check it out! I'll let you know how mine turn out:-)

Sylvie the Duck

Thanks to a very generous friend of Randy, Sylvia was a duck for Halloween. "Dee" is a great at sewing and volunteered to make sylvia this costume. We think she looked pretty cute!

Boo from Bun

In honor of "bun" aka sylvie, we carved our pumpkins this year. I think she enjoyed the whole process and we'll be glad she can verbalize what she thinks next year;-) playn' with pumpkin goop. She loved it!
Hanging out in the leaves while mom attempted to rake yesterday...

the tiny, chub hand that moved around all the goop, seeds and leaves that came along with pumpkins sitting outside for the last month. oh,and she smeared much of this onto our fridge as well. It was a fun (and long) clean up session!

Here we are hanging out post carving. Fun times!

Picasa is my Friend

I had some fun farting around with google's free download, "Picasa" which allows simple editing of pics and has some fun applications. I made this little collage of me and sylvia with some recent pics taken by my mom. I am toying with the idea of trying to make my own christmas card doing this. Whadday think? (Obviously I'd add Randy) Perhaps a better question is this: What website does a great job of creating Christmas cards for a reasonable price? I've looked at snapfish, tinyprints and shutterfly most recently. I am a rookie over here in regards to photo cards so if you have any wise advice, I'd be delighted if you passed it along by leaving a comment

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Good bye Green Bean!

Today marks the last day of the "Green Bean" parked in our driveway. I have a LOT of memories in this car including driving back and forth to IU (Indiana University) about 200 times to visit Randy while he was in grad school, driving back and forth from GR to Holland to work at Eagle Crest Charter Academy, driving back and forth from GR to Kalamazoo for three years straight! So crazy. This is also the car that I used to teach Rand how to drive a stick shift. What a hilarious experience that was. Mr. "I like to get it right the first time" stalled this little bean about 20 times before he figured out how to get it in gear. I had to be a patient patty that day. The purchasing history: I bought (well, my dad helped, thanks dad) this vehicle right after I graduated fro Calvin. It had 50,000 miles on it. Today it has 158K. Quite a few miles for ~7.5 years of use! Good buy little buddy! I won't miss ya but thanks for keeping me safe and sound all these years

2nd Annual Chili Cook-off

As seen in the pic below, sylvia was VERY excited about her first chili cook-off. Last year, she was in utero, which is so hard for me to even think about right now! I remember feeling sick around tomatoes and that my chili cook off #1 blog post made me feel like I was going to gag (it had lots of pics of chili in the post). Anyway, here is the low-down on this year's event.

In general, the quality of the chili was ramped up from last year. Aunt Judy was the winner last year, so she hosted this year. Note** We REALLY enjoyed the addition of hot apple cider and dessert--pumpkin torte (amazing Aunt Judy!) and Brian's apple pie (yes, he made it himself!).

The cooks and their chilis-- (L-R, back to front) Stan (dad) and the Texas, no-bean chili, Randy's Boilermaker 1,000 ingredients chili, Aunt Judy's sweet multi-bean chili, Jill's take the hair off your arm chipotle chili and Katie's interesting Italian chili.

Runner-up #4: Interesting Italian Chili... some comments included, "needs more spice, interesting combination, wonderful vegetables!" (It had zucchini and mushrooms in it!)

Third runner-up: Aunt Judy and her multi-bean chili. She herself said it was "boring" in comparison to the others! What? Most people thought it was good, sweet and full of good flavor. But not the winner this year...

2nd Runner-up is Stan the man and his Texas no-bean chili. Basically this was stewed meat (yum) and lots of tomato. There was not much spice, although he claims there was. He was adamant that the lack of beans was a reflection on his placement in the competition. We all thought it WAS good, but less like chili and more like a stew. He is also a pretty sore loser; he was still stewing--ha ha--about it yesterday.

The runner-up: Jilly! She made a crazy-hot chipotle chili with lots of beans, tomatoes and beef. As one comment said, "So hot, could only be made by a pregnant woman." It was great--and the accompaniments of fresh cilantro, sour cream and red pepper gave it a fresh new taste.

AND THE WINNER OF THE 2009 CHILI COOK-OFF IS....

Randy! With about 30 ingredients including basil, oregano, lots of sausage, beef, tomatoes, celery and beans, this chili wins the prize! It had "just the right amount of spice" and had a "nice consistency."
GO RAND! If you are interested in the recipe Randy used you can check it out at: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Boilermaker-tailgate-chili/Detail.aspx

What she is fond of.. and what she is NOT!

Lately sylv has been getting much better at letting us know what she likes and dislikes. For example, she is apt to scream bloody murder when we put her on her tummy, letting us know that we should never attempt that again. Thankfully, she is getting more used to flipping over, and is screaming less each time. For this I am thankful (this girl has LUNGS!)

Eating is a whole 'nother story. Yesterday night I found that she very much dislikes her oatmeal in contrast to her fruit. Whoops, mom forgot that you've gotta finish the bland stuff before the sweet stuff is introduced. We just kept cracking up everytime she ate another spoonful of the oatmeal... at least she didn't spit it out. She must already have the "guilt voice" in her head that reminds her never to waste food. I know I still have it--thanks mom and dad! I'm still almost-always a member of the "clean plate club!"