Breaking the Silence

I've been working on family history a lot lately (well, a lot for me).  I try to do a little bit every night, whether that means delving into the dirty work and looking through records or taking pictures of graves and transcribing them in an effort to help others find their ancestors.  As I've been searching for my ancestors, I find myself trying to imagine what their lives must have been like.  What it would be like to travel by boat for so long with your entire family, on your way to a new country where everything would be different-- even the way you spell your name.

I've found that so many of my ancestors and their siblings and children have done what I do-- "keeping house" as it says in so many of the records.  They were tending their children, like I do, and tried to keep their house together at the same time.

Often I think about how nice it would be to be able to read some of their history, even the mundane parts of life, so that I would be able to get a glimpse of what daily life might have been to them.  That way I could feel even more of a connection to the people that collectively brought about my existence.

All of this searching and thinking has led to the conclusion that I should be writing my own family history.  It's possible that what I write in a blog will not be around for generations, but maybe there's some way I can print and keep these things for my family.  Typing is much faster than writing things by hand-- and I can include pictures!  I hope that I can write once a week, but minimal once a month.

So with that, a quick update before I go to bed:

Life in Germany has been good to us so far.  It was pretty horrifically hard when we first moved in and my parents left.  I was sure I would probably die from lack of sleep and even food deprivation (I was constantly helping little people and would put off eating if I needed to get something done--helped me to loose the wait fairly quickly though!).  After several spells of intense migraines, weakness and dizziness, we decided it would be best if Ryan got up with the babies at night so I would have enough strength to get through the day and he wouldn't have to take any more time off work.  It worked!  It's only been about a month, but I'm actually feeling human again.  I can honestly say, though, that despite the extreme physical hardship, I have beyond enjoyed these sweet babies and their big brother.

Elias is getting so big!  He started German kindergarten about two months ago and he likes it!  He's starting to learn German and even shares a little bit of what he's learning.  He did tell me yesterday that he only talks to German kids in German and since I don't speak German he'll just talk to me in English.  Guess I should work on learning German!  He also has really loved having me read to him--but not just short books, but chapter books!  We started with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and he LOVED it.  There's something about imagining chocolate rivers and candy beyond his wildest dreams that just sucked him in.  Since then we've read an abridged version of Doctor Dolittle (which he wants to reread) and now we are reading and abridged version of The Wind in the Willows.  He's even surprised me by recognizing words like Oompa Loompa and Zoo while we read!  I guess it's time to start teaching him to read.  Gotta start working on some serious organization.

The babies are also growing at a rapid rate.  Jordan walked on his knees for the longest time, but finally picked up real walking at about 15 months....maybe it was 15 1/2.  Ive started walking at 13 months and she may be tiny, but she's is energetic!  Just today she somehow reached the case of chocolate milk that we have and pulled down three cartons.  She's determined!  Jordan is a bit mischievous.  Particularly when it comes to the toilet.  It all started with an isolated case of throwing a toothbrush in the toilet.  Then he recruited Ive while I was peacefully eating my breakfast and they threw several items in.....the next day he threw in my phone case (which had my ID, money and a grocery store card in it--gross!!).  We decided to move Elias' little toilet stair stepper thingy to the upstairs bathroom so that we could keep the main floor bathroom door closed and have less toilet fatalities.  Well, Elias came in to our bedroom last night saying there was a shirt in the toilet.  Upstairs.  Sneaky little guy did it while nobody suspected.  Let's hope this is just a phase.

Well my time is up.  I hope I will visit the blogging world more often!  Here are a few pictures!

This is a picture of Ryan in Heidelberg

Sweet Jordan

Little Ive

Prince Elias (as he likes to be called)

Strength

My Mother-in-law and I were having a conversation about strength a few days ago and the next day she found this poem completely by chance.  It tied in so well to our conversation that I want to write it down and keep it.  I've already lost the page twice so I'm going to write it here so that I don't lose it.

A strong woman works out every day to keep her body in shape...
but a woman of strength kneels in prayer to keep her soul in shape...

A strong woman isn't afraid of anything...
but a woman of strength shows courage in the midst of her fear...

A strong woman won't let anyone get the best of her...
but a woman of strength gives the best of her to everyone...

A strong woman makes mistakes and avoids the same in the future...
a woman of strength realizes life's mistakes can also be God's blessings and capitalizes on them...

A strong woman walks sure footedly...
but a woman of strength knows God will catch her when she falls...

A strong woman wears the look of confidence on her face...
but a woman of strength wears grace...

A strong woman has faith that she is strong enough for the journey...
but a woman of strength has faith that it is in the journey that she will become strong

-Luke Easter

Stanton Happenings in the past week

I love summertime!  The nice weather just fills my mind with ideas of things to do and gives me the energy to them!  I wish it could be summer all the time......but until I move to the tropics, I'll just have to be happy with the few months that we have here in Maryland.

On memorial day we went to Sandy Point state park.  It's a beach on the Chesapeake and it's a pretty nice space.  and it's only about 20 minutes from our house.  Woohoo!  I thought it was a little on the pricey side to get in, but we did and sat on the beach for a little while.  I'm not joking about a "little while" because Elias played around for a little while, did not want to go near the water and after about 45 minutes he insisted on going home.  He even took me by the hand and let me in the general direction of the car.  Silly little guy.  He likes to be at home.

"Go home, Mommy, home?"

Ryan at the beach

A self-portrait.  Not flattering, I know.

Last week Elias and I went strawberry picking with our friends Ina and Asia.  It was a lot of fun and the kids loved the strawberries.  I tried to have Elias help me at first, but he kept picking the green berries and trying to eat them, but they didn't taste very good.  He quickly learned that if he just went to the bucket I was putting berries in, he would have tasty strawberries at his disposal. 

 He and Ina wandered the field as us mommies picked serious amounts of berries.

Ina in the berries

Asia with her bucket full of berries

Elias taking advantage of my berries

Elias and this little boy were looking at a passing tractor and then they kind of looked at each other.  Elias then proceeded to eat berries out of the little boy's bucket.

Pinterest: Fail

I often find myself on pinterest saving activities to do with Elias for a later date.  But, as often seems to happen, I never open the link or try any of the activities.  I changed that all today, my friends.  I found a pin today for 50 activities to do with my toddler.  I decided to just start at the top of the list.  This blog is definitely designed with Pinterest in mind.....
Anyway I tried out the first activity (mostly because Elias didn't want to go to the playground): Soapy Jars

The idea is to fill a plastic jar halfway with colored water, add dish soap and let your child shake it so that they can create bubbles within the jar.  It sounded pretty fun!  It was also kind of funny to see how Elias reacted.

At first he gave it a shake and then he wanted to open the jar, really really bad.  He said he wanted to open it so he could drink it.....no thank you!
Then he quickly lost interest and moved on to other things.  Maybe he's too old for this activity, because the lady on the blog at least made it seem like her toddler was entertained for a good long time :)

"Open it!"

Playing in the fridge was more entertaining

He liked turning on the light

He got a lot of the "sensory" stimulation despite ignoring the soapy jar.  While I cooked he went through my spice cabinet.  He was staring at this little jar with sugar in it while moving it and looking at the sugar granules

Then he lined up boxes of aluminum foil.  I got these for 50 cents a piece this week with coupons.  I normally don't have this much tin foil :)

I think I want to try another one in a couple of days.  Maybe I'll blog about it, maybe I won't.  We'll see.  I know this post was wildly entertaining : D

Ina's bday part II

Ina had a second, more formal birthday party that I think some members of my family will be interested in seeing.  That and the babies were just too cute and I can't resist posting pictures of them :)
The day was really warm so the kids had a lot of fun playing outside.

Ina's grandparents had set up a little kiddie pool for them and they wanted to get in right away.  Elias would have climbed in with his clothes on if I wouldn't have caught him in time

A little chilly, but lots of fun!

 Ryan had brought some water balloons with him because we had played with them with Elias the day before and he LOVED them.  He filled them up and threw them in the pool and they were a big hit.

Here's a little video of the two of them playing.  You can tell the water's a little cold by Elias' reaction every time he falls in.  I think the video is waaay cute.

Drummin' on the trash can

Hanging out on the hammock

Sweet friends <3

I love how happy she was when she saw the cake and candles

Elias got to blow out a candle, too

There was much cake and cupcake eating

"Elias' chair"

Both of them starting sitting and squawking, it was way cute :)

Ina's Birthday Celebrations

Many of you know that Elias has a best friend.  Her name is Ina and she is a cutie.  Ina and her mom were our neighbors when we lived in College Park and we all became quick friends.  Us mommies were very surprised to see how well our babies got along.  That was more than a year ago.  And they still love each other. A lot.  We joke about them getting married one day because the way they act with each other is just too cute!
Well, last week was Ina's 2nd birthday and we had a lot of fun celebrating with her. 
It's picture time :)

First we met at an awesome park in Berwyn Heights.  Elias brought Ina a flower :)

Then, playing with shovels,

Drums,

Hugs after injuries,

And swings!

Then it was off to Ina's Grandma's house for a party!

There was a brand new birthday surprise there waiting for her....it was a hit!

And bubbles!

Hammock time with Ina's mommy!

The super delicious caterpillar cake!

After cake Grandma did what any good grandma would do and let them play in the sink.  They, of course, got really wet :D

Ar, matey!

Ahoy, Captain!

Sandbox fun

Piano time

Before we left we decided to let them both release a balloon into the air

It was fun at first......

It's getting further away!

.....but they were both really upset when they figured out the balloons weren't coming back....

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!

Catching up......our trip to Utah

I know I'm pretty much the worst blogger in the world, so there are a lot of things I owe the blogging world (or my parents, haha).

We had an unexpected trip to Utah to attend Grandma Stanton's funeral.  We weren't sure that we would all be able to go, but I am really glad we did.  Grandma Stanton was an amazing woman in so many ways.  I hadn't known her for very long, but I felt like I got to know her better during this trip.  She is a great example in so many ways.  She opened her home and her heart to countless people, she's a great example of how to make a home and be a good mother, grandmother and great-grandmother.  I'm so grateful that she left that kind of legacy for Elias and her 46 other great-grandchildren.  This trip to Utah was truly inspirational.

It was also really nice to see Elias with his cousins.  I wish we could see them all the time!

The newest addition to our cousins is Baby Aaron.  He was born in February and he's a cutie!

His big sister Emma has grown a lot and she's super sweet!

Jared, the big brother of the group has also grown a lot and I'm happy to report that he and Elias still love each other :) These pictures were taken at Grandma Stanton's viewing.

Baby Jack is definitely bigger and he's even crawling around now.  Elias really loved him too.  I think it's safe to say he really loves all of his cousins and was constantly asking for each of them every day that we were there.

One of the most physically impressive things about Grandma Stanton that was apparent at her funeral was how much she made with her hands for other people.  It's incredible!  She made a Christmas stocking for every member of the family- her kids and their spouses, grandkids and their spouses and all of her great-grandchildren.  Only some of what she made was displayed at her funeral and seeing all of that was overwhelming.  Knowing that someone can do all of that in one lifetime is incredible.

Some of her quilting

I couldn't get all the stockings in one picture, and not all of her stockings were displayed!

Family Time:

Four Wheeler Ride with Uncle Kyle

And with Papa and Jared and Emma!

Playing with Jared and the lambs

Emma wasn't too keen on the lambs at first :)

Emma and Jack playing cards

Elias and Jared playing in the hutch.....it ended badly but was still cute

Playing Outside

Baby Snuggles

Playing Outside II

Elias loved the drinking fountain at his grandparent's house :)

We miss you and can't wait to see you again!