Opa, Oma, and Tante Heidi (and of course Molly)

We had a really nice day on Tuesday when Lydia's family came in from the lovely suburbs of Chicago. They brought lots of fine gifts for the kids (as they usually do!) and we had a great visit.
Anna was loving Molly most of the afternoon. She has never seen a dog that is so well behaved and sweet. Molly is usually quite spectacular with her pink bows and painted toenails. Anna is used to hyper and stupid (if you know our dogs you can figure out who is who!)

Here is the Malysa family. They sure are a handsome bunch.
Here is oma and opa with the children. We warned the kids that they had to behave around oma because she will not put up with it. Opa discussed the Bears with them and how he is going to the play-offs to watch them win.
Here is Tante Heidi and Owen. Owen was really glad to see her again. Heidi has been trying to get to Grand Rapids for some time now, but her school semester has been busy. She is studying to be an RN.
We went to Pietro's for dinner. It is one of our favorite Italian Eateries. Oma was quite good at ordering in Italian. (There is nothing prettier than Italian spoken with a German accent!) The waiter flirted with Heidi (as they all do) and he offended Oma with his smart mouth. She made sure to stick out her tongue at him when he was not looking.

Anna ate a lot of pasta from everyone's plate and Owen gummed a spoon the whole time.

Opa decided that he would wink at me....and he didn't even have any Merlot!

We had a great time and we hope to see them all real soon.

Halfy Birthday to you!

Today on December 25, the world celebrates the birth of someone special.
Well, actually, it is not his birthday...but he is six months old today! Owen Justice Eshelman has completed a half of a year of life!

Owen really does not understand what that means, but he is very excited to be a part of the family. Owen really enjoys pulling the dog's hair, playing with his older sister, throwing his body around in attempt to crawl, waking up a couple of hours before the rest of us and making high pitched squeals, and most especially....he enjoys the snuggles from his mother.
Owen is not a very distinguished young man as of yet... we are still working on that. Owen is all boy though. He seems to have some roughian in him....maybe a rugby player?
We are praying that Owen grows to become a spectacular young man; a man, as was the Psalmist David- a man after God's own heart.

This is our prayer for our Owen; that he will grow to be a man of justice, as we pray that his older sister will grow to be a woman of much grace.

Toddlerhood is no longer

Lydia and I receive an email about every month from a group that tells where your baby should be developmentally. When she was pregnant with Anna, Lydia signed up for this, and it walked us through the pregnancy telling us exactly what is going to be happening in that week (it is VERY amazing how accurate this can be).
After the delivery the emails kept coming... subject line: your baby is three weeks old! and then we would see: subject line: your baby is four months, second week old! Then came the scary ones...Anna was no longer a baby to the developmentalists, but a toddler. They continued to write on about the things that went on while Anna developed, right down to the number of words that should be in her lexicon. It remained amazing.
Now we get these emails about Anna, as well as Owen, so that we have a refresher as to where our bundle of boy is to be, as well as our little precious girl.

Today we got the shock of our lives....I feel as though I am aging by the minute.

Subject line: Your preschooler is 25 months old!

Preschooler. Wow! This is going way too quickly; can someone help us to adjust?

The ministry of perfection

Some friends that people have are okay. Some are good friends. Others are just acquaintances. Our friend Janna, of Penultimate Grooviness, is none of these.

She is perfect.

There are many reasons why we think that Janna is perfect. Besides the great hat collection and the kindness that she has towards all, here is one our favorite reasons why Ms. Janna is perfect: French Silk Pie

3/4 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
3 eggs

Cream butter and powdered sugar. Mix in the chocolate until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating 3 to 5 minutes with each addition (this part is a drag).

Pour into prepared pie shell. As far as the pie shell goes, the recipe has a pastry crust, which is only ok, so I replaced it with an oreo crust. Oreo crusts make everything better.

Thank you Janna. You have helped rid the world of starvation, poor taste, and most especially...people that are too darn skinny. God bless you sweet Janna.

* * Attention all readers: This recipe is fabulous. Please make this and enjoy it with your annoyingly skinny friends. They will love you for it.

Owen in his classic cruiser

Owen got a really cool gift in the mail from his Opa and Oma in Pennsylvania. He got a "classic cruiser" firetruck that is a metal reproduction of a vintage kid car. It is VERY cool.

I had to open the box as well as assemble it so that I could take some pictures of Owen next to it. He wore his fire engine red nappy so that he could get some great pics.



My mother HATES when I open things before the open date. She is so cute. Despite this flaw within her personality, I knew she would love the pics. Thanks Opa and Oma!

It's Ba-yoo

Do you remember those nasty candy necklaces that you could get at the candy store when you were a kid? They used to be a pretty well built item.
That is no longer the case. They are garbage (and I am not referencing nutritional value.) The string always breaks leaving sticky junky candy all over the floor....and the colors run and get everywhere.

Tonight Anna was chomping away on one of those confectionery accessories and it happened to be blue.

When I noticed that the pieces were all over the floor, I took a look at her face.

A real mess!

Her response to my, "Anna!"?

"Papa, it's ba-yoo!"


It looks as though my desk chair and my laptop are having a smurfy day as well!

Mein Kampf mit schwester, fraulein Heidi

In the previous post my lovely sister-in-law referred to me as Hitler (she wrote Hilter...but we can forgive that.) The reason that she calls me that is not because I am evil dictator who lords over my home with expectations that uberhumans could not perform; although that sounds nice.

The reason that she called me that is because on a certain Tuesday this past summer the family from Chicago was going to come to Grand Rapids and we were all going to go to Frederick Meijer Gardens for a nice afternoon. In my haste to get groomed before they arrived; I shaved with a razor that was a few shavings past its usefulness. I butchered my face...but only under the nose and around that crease that connects the upper lip to the center of the nose. Needless to say I walked around the Gardens with a ridiculous looking bandage that covered that region of my face. Heidi thought that it would be fun to refer to me as Hitler!

Too bad Hitler ruined that great piece of facial hair history though. I think I may try that moustache sometime in lieu of the goatee.

The Eyes Have It!

Here is a gross, but interesting (?) game:

People often compliment our children on their eyes and how pretty the color is. Can you guess which eye belongs to which family member? The winner will get a special prize....it is to be announced!

Here is the order:

A B

C D

Kevin (From 3,2,1 Penguins!)

This is Kevin:

Some friends are really great to keep. If you notice in the next photo his eyes are a lot like Frank Sinatra's...not that he can look at you for more than 3 seconds without his Asperger's kicking in.

Kevin is a great buddy to have. He is working on his Master's of Divinity at Boston College. He loves the crazy Kennedy-type liberals that live in that city. He is the most conservative guy there.

Sometimes he is really crazy and makes me invert my outlook on life. Why don't you send him an email and tell him what a great guy he is:

kev_vs@yahoo.com (tell him to start his blog.)

Calvinist Bears

Teddy bears that have messages in hearts are quite tacky. Let us be up front about that. But when you are a theological student that is walking through the aisles of Target and you see one that is promoting Calvinism you have to stop and look.

Last year Target stores booted out those annoying Starvation Army bell ringers; this year they are promoting Calvinism...is there a connection?
Don't worry readers, the tacky Calvinism bears were under $4 each. A small price to pay to promote your theological presumptions.

In the Millennium, will a majority of the children have chosen bears? We will just have to wait and see.

Reading For Life

Parents should always take the time to read to their children. Reading to your children is the cornerstone of a life time of learning. Even if it is just for five minutes talking about the pictures on the page, this time spent can be a seeding of a passion for learning.
Support your local book dealer.

John Calvin on Breast Feeding

Who knew that John Calvin, the great Reformer, was also a member of LaLeche League?". . .the Lord does not in vain prepare nutriment for children in their mothers' bosoms, before they are born. But those on whom he confers the honor of mothers, he, in this way, constitutes nurses; and they who deem it a hardship to nourish their own offspring, break, as far as they are able, the sacred bond of nature. If disease, or anything of that kind, is the hindrance, they have a just excuse; but for mothers voluntarily, and for their own pleasure, to avoid the trouble of nursing, and thus to make themselves only half-mothers, is a shameful corruption."
Commentary on Genesis 21.7

Owen Justice: sitting high and mighty

Owen is happy to announce to everyone that he is now able to sit up on his own for extended periods of time. This comes just weeks before his sixth month of life is celebrated internationally on the 25th of December. (I saw that a lot stores were having sales to commemorate this event).
Owen would like to thank many people for making this event happen, including Protein which aids in the development of muscles tone. He would also like to thank his equilibrium for making balance possible. Here Owen eats a Little People horse in celebration on meeting this milestone on time.
The hind quarters are always the most tender.
Anna whispers to him that horses are not for eating unless we are in another great depression or Mexico. Owen is somewhat embarrassed, but not surprised.
Owen does not care about eating horses. He is glad that he can sit up and see the world around him. He is happy to be alive as well as happy that he has this great rubber ducky outfit from his "aunt Moes"

bipolar baby

Owen is a very sensitive boy. He will react in more emotional ways than Anna ever did when she was his age. Owen gets his feelings hurt very easily. He will cry if a toy is removed from his hand...In a loving way by his older sister. (While she says, Anna's toy!)

He also is very excitable and will laugh loudly and almost uncontrollably at times. He can be a sober baby as well, looking contemplatively at the world around him.

Look at these images and you will see a plethora of emotions. None of which were too upset. (We cannot capture our children when they are distraught.)

Coffee, Coffee, Coffee *said in fat-crazy-lady voice

Anna is like her father in many ways. She enjoys freshly ground Starbucks coffee that is percolated at a high temperature to assure the best use of the bean.

She enjoys helping to grind the coffee as well as watching the water tap the glass top of the percolator. (I loved that at my grandma's when I was little.)

She also enjoys drinking her coffee out of Fiestaware. (For those of you who do not know, Fiestaware is the classic vintage American choice of dinnerware.) Her grandparents got her the "My First Fiesta" tea set for her first birthday, and she is now beginning to use it.

Tea parties are fun...Coffee parties are better!

New Birkenstocks for Lydia

Lydia and I love Birkenstock shoes. She has been looking for a new pair and I think that I have found the perfect pair. They are casual, yet sophisticated. They are the perfect balance between metro and organic.

I think that they are great. I hope that she likes them...She is a VERY CLASSY woman with very refined taste. You know, only the best German footwear for my love.

To hear one's own thoughts

Not all moments in our home are this quiet:

The dogs slept curled in separate corners, denying one-another's existence.

Owen nursed slowly in the arms of his loving mother.

Anna read while snuggled in under the window.

The hum of the furnace, the tapping of the keyboard.

All is good on Union Avenue.

Master's Degree (in diaper changing)

Some things are better done when one is single or before children come into the home. (And no, I am not recommending the use of birth control for these things.) One of which is completing a Master's Degree. As you all know I have been working on a Master's of Divinity over the past two years. It has gotten more difficult with the birth of Owen.
Education has not gotten any easier with children. I have taken this week off of work so that I could catch up on papers that need to be completed before the fourteenth of December. A good amount of my time has been entertaining Anna, comforting Owen, or attempting to fix some toy related tragedy for Anna. It has not been an easy week.
Here is what still needs to be completed before semester's end:
Papers on the following topics:
Literacy in the Bible
Mark 13 exposition
House visitation
The circumcision of Christ
Baptism
Preparation for the Lord's Supper


Too bad I cannot write a paper on the morality of Thomas and Friends. I am sure that I know all that there is to know about our little British train buddy. I think more Thomas research has been done than paper research.
Maybe I am just a doubting Thomas, but I hope all gets finished.