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)!