christmas day

We woke up at Doh & John Pap's on Christmas morning.




This was obviously the Christmas of drums. Ted got a hand drum and electronic drum sticks.


I opened gifts with Sophie and even found gifts I didn't know I had received when I got home b/c she kept me busy. About half way through, Pap gave her a gingerbread cookie. She snuggled up with Uncle Mark and proceeded to lick off all the icing and then eat it. That lasted until we were done opening gifts!


Ted playing with his playmobil set that Uncle Andy & Aunt Courtney got him.

My parent's came to Ben's parents for lunch. We've done that since we were married. After lunch, we headed out Route 7 for the Slider Family Christmas.


My Dad made Ted & Sophie a play kitchen for Christmas. It is AWESOME!! I'll have to get a better picture. Sophie got all the play food and stuff. It's being delivered to Charleston on Friday. Can't wait to get it. Sophie's room is rearranged and ready for it.


Eating Gary Pap's special dip with Uncle Charlie.


Playing games with Carlyn, Trey & Graeson


The Grandchildren Picture!


And the nice one. Notice the horizontal legs on the right. That's Ben laying on the floor and pulling Sophie's shirt through the rocking chair to keep her in her seat! =)

After dinner we headed back to town for bedtime. Doh & John Pap, Grandma & Gary Pap, Andy & Courtney, Uncle Mark, Ben and I played Bunco and then cards. It was a GREAT Christmas!

the night before christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas
And all through the house
The Tuel's were doing their family Christmas
On Christmas Eve morning

The gifts were wrapped
The stockings were filled
Ted had asked Santa for a drum set
But, alas, not one had appeared

When what to our wandering ears should sound
But the Mountaineer fight song on Ben's cell phone
John Allevato had a drum set from when he was a kid
And wanted us to have it for Ted

Ben dashed out the door and called to the minivan
Help me get this drum set home so we can surprise Ted
He stayed up so late putting on new heads and cleaning it
We were thankful that the kids slept 'till 8!

So, Christmas Eve morning we got up at 8am. Had some cinnamon rolls and started on presents.




Sophie's shopping cart to go with the gift my parent's would give them later.


Sophie's Little People House


The Fishing Cabin Playmobil for Ted - this is combined with all the stuff he got in his Playmobil Advent Calender.


Cases of Diet Coke are always fun to play with . . .



. . . as are the boxes that the gifts are wrapped in.


My sister did this paintings for us and Ben got them framed for me for Christmas.




Ben hid the drum set in the laundry room.


All set up in his room - it really matches (or blends) nicely!


Sophie giving the drums a whirl.

The drum set isn't as bad as I anticipated. Really, it's a punishment for Ted (not letting him play them) that isn't actually a punishment for me!

We had so much fun! We hung out all day and then went to the Christmas Eve services. My children and I had our own personal comedy show while I tried to read a book during the children's time.


We'll just say that Ted sat beside me and his voice picked up on the mic I was wearing. He commentated and asked lots of questions. And Sophie crawled through about 30 kids to be on the other side and try to turn the pages for me. Thankfully, we only had to do one service!

We headed to New Martinsville around 8:30 pm to wake up at Doh & John Pap's on Christmas morning.

christmas letter

Just in case yours got lost in the mail . . .

Merry Christmas 2009!

What a year! Ted turned 4 in October and is officially a “big kid.” I have already discovered that 4 is much better than 3! He’s grown up a lot. Over the summer he lost his fear of the bugs, dirt, sweat, water – the outdoors in general. We have the best conversations and he loves anything to do with music. He has quite a gift for drumming and learning song lyrics. His current favorites include Great Escape, Check Yes Juliet, Don’t Stop Believin’, How He Loves Us, and Sing, Sing, Sing. We have the loudest mini-van in Charleston! He gave up his blankies on his 4^th birthday and is seriously irritated by his sister most of the time. Recently, he has found a love for being in his underwear anytime we are at home – thanks, Asher! He was sick a lot in the Winter ‘08/Spring ‘09 which led to some medical testing. But whatever his mystery illness was is gone. He makes us laugh a lot.

Sophie is 18 months old and spunky. She decided that she would army crawl for months and months and months. It was definitely cute but kind of a bummer at the park, on the concrete at the pool, and the general filth of every floor we walked on. Over the summer she had a steady diet of mulch, rocks, dirt and bugs! She started walking in August and hasn’t stopped since. Busy would be a good word to describe her. For my own sanity and for her to regulate herself, she watches the occasional Baby Einstein video strapped in her extra car seat. Her hair is below her shoulders and has been a source of frustration during this incessantly runny nose season. Sophie has just started using a few words (mommy, dada, puppy, baby, and the favorite picture taking word, cheese!) She absolutely adores Ben. She keeps us on our toes.

Ben is doing full time Young Life staff and part-time River Ridge Church worship leader. I’m part-time Family Ministry Director at RRC. We both absolutely love our jobs – which is an amazing thing to be able to say. We’re in our 8^th year living in Charleston and we absolutely love it here – our church, our friends, our “family.”

We got a new bathroom and backyard this year – thanks, Dad! I hired an amazing Family Ministry assistant staff – I really need to make her an official job title! We spent 5 weeks this summer at Young Life Camp. Young Life, WyldLife and Big Kick Soccer Camps and a week in East Brady kept our schedule full the rest of summer. Last winter was long with an infant, but around Sophie’s 1^st birthday, things started to perk up a bit. God has taught us both about freedom, worship, diving into the word, being right in the middle of God’s will and fighting for the most important relationships in our lives.

This year we both lost our last living grandparent within two weeks of each other. It was a tough season of loss. It really made us think about who we want to be and what we want our lives to be about. Ben gave the sermon last week at church about this very thing – How do you want to finish? I know that we don’t want to live life saying, “I wish I would have . . . “

I love writing our Christmas letter to reflect on the past year. 2010 promises to be a year of excitement and adventure – we’re ready. And we know how we want to live it. How about you?

winter wonderland

We woke up to a winter wonderland this morning. We knew it was coming. Everyone raided Kroger last night like they would be snowed in for a week.












We couldn't find any snow attire to fit Sophie. And all she has is little cotton pants. So we stayed inside - perfectly fine with me as I hate being out in the snow. So the boys threw snow at the door and she "played" with that.


Ben made a snowman. Ted helped for about 30 seconds and then decided he needed to take a break to play in the snow. He's developing some real quality work ethic.


The finished product.

All in all, it was a great day. It was so nice to have to stay home. Ted is watching "Charlie Brown Christmas." Sophie is in bed. Ben and I are playing Scrabble. It's been a good day. (Although Scrabble is just one step up from Monopoly in my world of torture.) Now we'll see what happens with church in the morning . . . so far, we're good to go!

christmas pics

a winter poem

a morning at sam's

Sophie and I went to Sam's Club the other morning to do some quick shopping and get the tires rotated. Being business members, we're suppossed to be able to go before it opens for regular members and be ahead of the game. NOT! They told me 45 minutes.

So, Sophie and I leisurely shopped (as much as you can with an 18 month old on a budget at Sam's.) So, at 40 minutes, I go back to the Tire Deparment and they are just pulling the van into the garage. So, here are the next 20 minutes. . .


I let her run up and down the tire aisles. She couldn't hurt anything. She did climb in and out of some of the smaller piles.


Then she started to take the stickers off the tires. So we had to move on to something else.


We moved on to pushing the cart around. That didn't last long. (Sorry, couldn't get the picture to upload the correct direction.)


In the process of pushing the cart we spilled my coke which she couldn't stay away from, course.


And this is the nice man on the cool machine that cleaned up our mess. Thankfully the van was done after all that excitement!

Sophie and I never have dull mornings. We just don't always document them.

tree and snow

We put up the Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was a real family affair. We exchanged Ted's tool bench for his train table in the attic. The tool bench keep everyone busy while Ben got down the Christmas boxes.




Ted on a "treasure hunt" in the attic.


The tree. This picture really does it no justice. We got these great bigger lights at Sam's. We finally broke down and bought an artificial tree last year. SO GLAD we did. We always ended up with a Charlie Brown tree. Currently, all the ornaments are now above Sophie's extended reach.


Ted does not like the nativity scene to be the traditional "the semi-circle around Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus." It's more like they're on a trip all going in the same direction. It drives Ben crazy and he always fixes it - and Ted promptly makes them the traveling nativity.


It snowed several inches a couple Saturdays ago. It was great! Ted loved it.

a little video for ya

Well, we're 2 for 4 for Ted for Christmas. And apparently Sophie wants cheese. See for yourself.

sophie at 18 months

Sophie had her 18 month check-up. I was hoping to get out of that pesky 100th percentile in her weight - but NO! Up to the 115th. The funny thing is, she's really cut back on her eating considerably and never stops moving. Really I don't get it.

So from 15 to 18 months she gained 2 1/2 pounds (up to 31 1/2 pounds). She grew 1 3/4 inches and is up to the 80th percentile in height. So she's definitely doing some stretching out. She has started to say "cheese" when she sees a camera and is definitely bringing out the drama. Talking is coming. She repeats the inflection and tones in the things we say. She's up to da, mommy, hi, bye-bye, puppy, baby. Every once in awhile Ted will say, "Mommy, Can Sophie say . . . .insert some absurd word that she totally isn't able to say - peppermint patty, Christmas tree, etc, etc."

big announcement

Well, we have a big announcement . . . .

Sophie wore pants with a button waist today. And they fit over her thighs. And she could actually walk in them!

No more all elastic waistband for her.

24 hour thanksgiving

We had a 24 hour Thanksgiving visit to New Martinsville. It was a bit of whirlwind and not really planned that way. But, hey, things don't always happen as you plan them.

We had Thanksgiving on 4th Street at the Goddard House. Dinner included Ben's folks, my folks, Uncle Mark, Cousin Billy, Andy & Courtney, Ben, Laura, Ted & Sophie, Heather & Steffanie - and that might be all. Dessert was pies and birthday cake for Ben and Heather. There was some card playing, cookie making, nap taking, and a surprise visit with special friends.

Friday, we ended up coming back to Charleston b/c Sophie and I were sick. Ben missed the WVU/Pitt game. Kind of a bummer b/c it was actually a good game. Oh well! But we actually had an ENTIRE Saturday with no plans. It was wonderful - and much needed. We put up the tree - pictures of that to come later.



Charlie showing off his dear to the thus far unsuccessful hunters.


Happy Birthday on Thanksgiving! (Both of their birthdays are actually in December. Just celebrating while everyone's around!)


These guys played cards all day.


Making cookies with Doh (No pun intended!)


Bethany, Carissa, Laura, Janny & Emily - I love these girls more than I can tell you.