Kelsey Christmas on New Years Eve

At least 6 more weeks of Winter!

So, My uncle Bob posted a video he took when we were visiting the Coury's last Sunday. You can click here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF3-VoZW1j8 or go to You Tube and type in Charlotte Kohler! Charlotte really gives her shadow a "what for"!

Although we missed the oficial Coury-Christmas party- we did manage to come visit the following day while Karen and Bob (from San Francisco) were in town. Charlotte got to see her cousins (2nd cousins) Ava and Noah! It was so cute to see the girls playing together! I was the only girl in the Coury cousin bunch, so to see these two little girls playing was very special for me! I wish I had gotten a video of their piano concert... words cannot exactly describe it! We look forward to seeing them all again soon!

8 Christmases

Matt and I have wanted to see the movie “Four Christmases” because it seemed fitting for our lives! But like we could fit it into our schedules!!!! And although we have not seen the movie… I think that if we only had four celebrations we would be thankful! Due to the weather, we actually missed a few this year, but our annual Christmas celebrations include … • Christmas with Matt’s Dad (in Vancouver) • Christmas with the Kohler family (once in Eugene- now in Vancouver) • Christmas with Donahues (Matt’s Mom’s family- also in Vancouver) • Christmas with the Courys (Nadine’s Dad’s family) • Christmas Eve with Nadine’s Mom, Brad, Julee’s parents, our siblings & Church • Christmas Day (we have our own morning celebration) • Christmas Day with Nadine’s Dad, Matt’s mom, our siblings, and this year joined by Julie’s friend Roger, & Nadine’s Grandparents. (our house) • Christmas with the Kelseys (Nadine’s Mom’s family) So don’t get me wrong… I love Christmas! But does this seem crazy to anyone else??? I have a deep love for traditions, and enjoying our families, but I really feel that in the midst of celebrating 8 times, we forget what we are celebrating! I want to make sure that Charlotte grows up knowing that Christmas is not about stuff- not that she won’t enjoy her piano, kitchen, trike, art easel, books, and dvds, but down the road I want her to learn to be a “giver”! We celebrate because of Jesus, because God gave that gift to us, and Jesus gave his life for us! Somehow, someway, some year- I hope we find a good way to balance all of this out! We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year!

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas!

Cookies are a Must!

So, the plan was... Monday, December 22nd was going to be cookie and bread baking day with my mom. I was really looking forward to getting this tradition started for Charlotte- a Christmas baking day with her mom and grandma- how fun! But come Monday and it began to look as if there would be no cookies for Christmas! Charlotte was running a fever of 101.2 and my nausea from the car trip had turned in to a full blown crohns attack. I was so dehydrated by the time my mother got to our house that I couldn't see straight. Luckily I called up Dr. Pete (my old infusion doc- when I was on Remicaid) and he let me come down and get IV fluids. What a deal! I was so thankful to both Dr. Pete and Nurse Debbie- they had no more patients for the day but stayed to give me fluids! Then Pete sent me home with a huge bag of meds! What a blessing (especially the part where we got to skip the ER)and for my mom taking me! By the next day I felt well enough to bake 2 dozen sugar cookies, 2 loaves of Pumpkin bread, and 2 dozen jelly thumbprint cookies! Whew! That was a close one.... you just can't have Christmas without cookies!

Vancouver Weekend

Despite the treacherous weather, we crazy Kohlers, decided to go ahead and make the trip to Vancouver to visit Matt's family for Christmas as planned. "Winter Blast 2008" had really already done its worst... right??? So last Friday, we hit the rode (or the ice- I should say). The roads were terrible until we got north of Vancouver. There was no snow on the roads at all, but then it started snowing- and it never stopped! While we were there we enjoyed good snacks and fun new toys for the entire family! Matt and I finally have an iPod! Yes- we are really moving into the 21st century! Charlotte got her very first trike. It won't be long before her cute little legs are long enough to reach the pedals! On Sunday, we would normally have brunch with Matt's mom and the Donahues (Matt's mom's side) but the weather was not looking good. If we thought the roads were bad on Friday, we were really in for it on Sunday! I had never seen anything like it, and again it snowed the entire way home. You couldn't see pavement at all- so forget lanes, people just drove where ever! It was nuts! I was seriously sick by the time we reached Tacoma.

Sleeping Beauty

So Charlotte is normally up by 7:00 AM- regardless of when she went to bed. This morning she woke up right at 7:00 and Matt took er downstairs to watch Sesame Street. He went to get her breakfast and found her asleep on the couch. So we let her sleep. She slept, and slept... and slept! Finally at 10:00 AM she sat straight up and started talking (chattering). She never sleeps this much! I hope it is just a growth spurt!

Snow

So, Charlotte continues to show sides of her mommy... We are pretty sure this was Charlotte's inner dialogue when we took her out in the snow... "Yeah, I guess its pretty... but are you crazy? You want me to to play with this cold stuff??? Get me inside! Its freezing out here (as she ran for the door)!"

5 Years Ago

5 years ago today- Friday, December 12th, 2003- was the day Matt and I started dating! Finals were over, and all of our friends were going to "Poppy's" Martini Bar for drinks and fun to celebrate. Indeed, we had fun! Matt and I shared most of the same friends- and of course we were good friends at that time. But I distinctively remember at one point in the evening, I ended up sitting next to Matt as a large group of us huddled into a round corner table booth. By this point I was sleepy (hey it had been a long week- but yes, I had probably had one too many martinis by this point) and I vividly remembering leaning on Matt ever so slightly and he put his arm around me. In that moment, I can't really explain with words what happened... but I remember my inner dialogue: "Matt's arm around me feels very comforting"... "Hmmm... This feels like more than just friends"... (and the cheesiest) "I could sit here with his arm around me all night"!

Just hanging out

Enjoying the Season!

Needless to say... Charlotte loves the tree!... and the gifts... and unwrapping the gifts... and playing with her daddy's nativity set! We are singing Christmas songs daily and drinking eggnog! Matt doesn't like eggnog (what the heck???) but Charlotte is with me on this one- just like chocolate!

Oh Tannenbaum

We went to our usual tree cutting spot in Sumner the day after Thanksgiving. Charlotte has had problems recently with ear infections, so she played at Great Grandma and Gramdpa Kelsey's while we hunted for our 2008 Christmas Tree (I think she was MUCH happier playing inside then marching through muddy field of trees)!

Thanksgiving 2008

Matt's Birthday

Happy Birthday Honey! Sunday was Matt's 27th birthday. Look at that dedicated Daddy! (Ya know he is getting his hair pulled really hard in this photo! Saturday night, Sean and his friend Erica took us out to an Italian restaurant on 6th avenue... Il Fiasco I think was the name (I could look it up, but I am too tired- sorry!) We enjoyed a bottle of delicious red wine and the softest most delicious bread- oh yeah and the rest of the food was pretty good too. Thanks Sean for the fun night out!

Front Step Fall Photo

Thanks Daddy for taking this great fall photo!

Charlotte's Corner

When mommy is working in the kitchen, Charlotte can often be found in the corner. And no... it's not becasue she was bad! She has simply adopted this corner and stool as her own little spot.

ROCK a bye Baby

Charlotte loves music... and that makes mommy pretty happy! I have been singing to her since before she was born, so when I see her participate in music in any way I am thrilled! She caught on to the drums quickly, and now bee-lines it to the drum sticks anytime we visit Grandpa Coury. And at Great Grandma and Grandpa Kelsey's there is a piano! Matt and I were shocked to see her sit down at the piano and place all ten fingers on the keys to play! I guess we expected her to poke at the keys one figer at a time or just bang on the keys with her whole hands. Who knows at 19 months what this all could lead to... but nonetheless... I am excited to see her excited to rock it out- drums, piano, or pots & pans!!!

Reading

Charlotte is a funny girl! She will bust out with phrases but the rest of her chatter is still all made up! When she reads it sounds like "ought-ought-ought". Is that we sound like to her when we read??? It is amazing how much she undersrtands, but her forte is not repeating words!

Harvest Party

Thanks to everyone who joined us on Friday! We had a great time and I hope you all enjoyed the chili and treats!

Pumpkin Patch

October hits again...

Not sure if anyone remembers... but last year in October we had some big problems at the house, the biggest being a busted pipe & no hot water! So October hits this year and BAM... busted pipe & no hot water. What is the deal??? . I think we may have finally fixed the problem... at least for this year! In the meantime, we did manage to fit in a few fun things... like a trip to the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago with cousins Jordan and Emma... And visiting Grandpa Coury's puppies! Hopefully I will post some of those fun pics before October has come and gone!

Go Ducks Go!

September 20th was the day of the Oregon vs. Boise St in Eugene, and we try to go to one game a year. SO we made the trip down to visit Grammy Angelia and Grampy Kohler, and the rest of the Kohler family including Great Grandma Kohler. We all had a great time. Unfortunately the Ducks lost, but made a good 4th quarter come back attempt. But more importantly, Charlotte received her first poms poms!

Ahoy Maties

Gramma Kay and Grandpa Johny (Diane & Johny Simchuk- for those of you who are confused... "who's Kay?") took us for dinner on their boat. This was Charlotte's first boat ride! AND let me tell ya... she loved it. As we were pulling out of the Thea Foss waterway, we passed by an Argosy Cruise boat, and Charlotte promptly stood up on the bench on her tippy toes, reached her arm up as high as it would stretch, and begun waiving and yelling, "BYE-BYE! BYE-BYE!" It was stinkin' cute, and the folks on the boat laughed and waived back! What a little princess.