Christmas Letter

Eskestrand Escapades: 5^th Edition

December 2010

To say it has been another busy year for the Eskestrands would be an understatement. Last year this time Scot was a medical student – he is now almost half way through his intern year of an Internal Medicine residency. Last year we had a little guy still ‘cooking’ – this year we have two sweet and energetic little boys who fill our lives with sunshine. Last year we were graced with views of the Colorado Mountains – this year we are in Cleveland, OH and learning to enjoy the different beauties the Midwest has to offer. We continue to be daily reminded of the Lord’s goodness and mercy toward us and hope that you, too, are reminded of the gift He gave us through His son.

Scot graduated in May out in Kirksville, MO and we decided to pack up the house, leave Evan with my mom, and do moving and graduation all in one long week. With a 4 week old. It was great fun to catch up with friends and have Scot become Dr. Eskestrand in the midst of the move. I can’t say that he is thrilled with being an intern, but then again, it’s not supposed to be fun. When he’s not at the hospital he is usually found in his study with books open, sleeping, or hanging with us. We don’t see much of him, but he does a great job of making the time he has with us quality time. We are thankfully very plugged into a smaller church where he has made and maintains some good relationships with other guys through talking in the foyer on Sundays (if he’s not working, that is).

Evan is my little helper – in the kitchen (he loves to cook!), with house work, with his brother. If he can help, he’s there! At 2 ½ he is quite the little charmer and will literally make a cloudy day brighter with his smile. His communication skills have improved so much and there is very little he cannot ask or tell us. It is pure joy when he wants to read another Bible story or tell us about what he learned in Sunday school. He is still very sensitive, sweet, and loving – especially with Drew. They are commonly found playing together and sometimes in the morning I hear him saying “Hi brother!” or “Morning Drew-boy”.

Drew is such a happy, easy boy with a winning smile. At 8 months he’s crawling around, climbing, and starting to cruise. He is rarely found upset or distraught, and is content to play alone or with Evan. He is full of energy and tries to keep up with his brother as much as possible. He babbles at us constantly – he has so much to tell us we love watching his facial expressions and hand gestures. He squeals when Scot walks through the door and follows on Evan’s heels if he’s able. He is my “cuddler” and my little Mr. Determined – it’s going to be fun to see how he changes over the next year.

I have been busy as always. My life here in Cleveland looks a lot like it did in Denver. Play dates, Bible study, making and keeping up with friends, entertaining, exercising (to include running although I’ve stopped), teaching the boys, loving my time in the kitchen, blogging, being a professional single mom 98% of the time, and trying to make as many memories as we can where ever we are. The Children’s museum is wonderful and the library system is the best I’ve seen, so those are the places we go when it’s not fit to be outdoors, otherwise, we go to parks or on long walks/runs. The boys and I (and Scot when he’s able) have done some exploring around the Cleveland area to include Amish country, the ‘beach’, Chagrin Falls and also Pittsburgh and Dayton to visit friends. We are truly enjoying getting to see and experience another part of the country.

We have done quite a bit of traveling this year. In March we went to VA where we witnessed Jared and Madeline married, they had a beautiful ceremony and it was so much fun to catch up with friends and family! We obviously had our trip to Cleveland which is a story in and of itself, but my mom came to visit (bringing Evan with her) and stayed for a couple weeks to help us settle. We returned to Colorado in September for two and half wonderful weeks where we soaked up the dry heat and mountain views, saw friends and got ‘re-charged’. Thanksgiving was spent with dear friends, both new and old, and we’ll all be going back to CO for Christmas this year as Dad will be home for his 2 week R&R. We love having visitors – we have a fantastic set-up for guests and we now know neat little places to take people – so come on over!

We hope that the Lord is richly blessing you this Christmas season and will continue to do so throughout 2011!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year with Love,

Scot, Sarah, Evan and Drew

eskestrands@gmail.com

6 years ago today...

...I laid eyes on my wonderful husband as he walked in the door to my dad's department Christmas party.

Now I was only home because my dad was being deployed two days later. It was a Friday and I wasn't even 'supposed to be there' - but kind professors let me take some finals early so I could spend more time with him before he left.

Isn't it amazing how the Lord works?

So I spotted Scot and I thought he was a cute tech (I didn't see him come in with his folks. He was only there for the free food - go figure.) He spotted me, thought I was pretty good looking, but thought I was married.

Needless to say, we started talking and he ended up walking out the door with my phone number. Something I never did, and something for which my mother lightly scolded me for as we got into the car. I distinctly remember sighing and telling her "Don't worry mom, it's not like I'm gonna marry him or anything." It was just free coffee with a cute guy over break when I didn't have much else to do.

Go ahead. Laugh all you want. We do.

So here are pictures of us every holiday season since. I'm still not sure if I'm happy my mom took our picture on our first 'date' - you can still see the "ok - take it quick!" look in my eye as I was so nervous and feeling slightly awkward. One day I know I'll be really grateful, so in advance - thank you, mom. :)

First date. We look like such kids. And I look slightly petrified. It was just coffee - why the picture?!


Nov 2005 - 21st birthday LoDo - 16th St Mall


Nov 2006 First married Thanksgiving in Kirksville, MO


Dec 2007 - Holiday Ball in Kirksville, MO - 2 months pregnant with Evan here


Dec 2008 - Christmas in Colorado Springs


Nov 2009 - Denver, CO


Nov 2010 - Cleveland, OH

Amanda, labels and a dreamy boy

Meet Amanda. She is a gal from our church who absolutely loves our boys. It's nice, too, that we like each other. She came over yesterday to play with the boys for a little bit, but mostly to just chat with me. We talked kids (she's about to start nanny school!) and life and books...oh we had so much fun! Evan had a blast, too! "Miss 'Manda" was heard about every minute that he was awake. Too cute.


[There WAS a picture here of our really cool labels, but since I just went public with the blog, I deleted it...]
Well, if anyone needed our address, here it is! Haha! I sent away for these really inexpensive return labels, oh, about 9 weeks ago, thinking they would be perfect for Christmas cards. (If you've ever written 'Eskestrand' on 50+ envelopes you'd understand.) I got them in the mail on Tuesday, just in the barely-nick-of-time to send off the letters. I'll be posting a copy here, too, so don't fret. I was also excited because, if you'll notice, the labels say Dr. and Mrs...I am just so proud of Scot and all the hard work he's put into getting where he is right now.



Every night before we go to bed, we 're-tuck' the boys in. Inevitably, Evan has kicked off blankets in the process of getting settled. A few nights ago, this is what met our eyes as they adjusted to the darkness of the room. I have no idea how he managed to fall asleep like this, but we thought it was one of the cutest things ever. It's like he's out on the beach, catchin' some rays!

Shorts

Here are some "shorts" to give you all a little taste of Evan right now.

In the car
Me: So buddy, you getting excited for Grammy's?
E: YYEEAASSS!!! Leave three weeks?
Me: Nope! Just one more week and then we'll be there!
E: See Christmas tree!? Jesus birthday?!
Me: Yup! She'll have a Christmas tree and we'll celebrate Jesus' birthday.
E: Oh. (slightly pensive) (Silence) Sleep, mommy?
Me: Where will you sleep at grammy's? (me trying to figure out what he was getting at)
E: Yeas. Sleep?
Me: Well, where do you want to sleep at grammy's?
E: (thoughtful and then very excitedly) Sleep deck, mommy!! Sleep deck!

I think it'll be a bit cold for that.


(Going over his Sunday school take home lesson on Joseph in Egypt, which I might add is a little confusing for him since we're constantly talking about Mary and Joseph...)
Me: What about Joseph?
E: Go Egypt. Brothers sad.
Me: Do you think his brothers were sad to see him go?
E: Evan sad. Joseph big hole. (I think he was referring to the well)
Me: But where did he go when he got out of the hole?
E: Egypt! Rode camels!
Me: And who did he meet in Egypt?
E: (excitedly) Fairy-o!!!



Today, Evan and Drew were playing together and I was privileged enough to hear their first 'conversation'. Evan left the scene to go get a toy and Drew started to cry. Evan ran back saying: "I'm back, Drew! I'm back! No cry!"

Ranger Cookies

We made these delicious babies last night! So yummy that I had to post them here, too!

Oh, Evan

This seems to be what I've been saying a lot the last few days. It must be the weather and his desperate need to be outside and just run some energy off coupled with his natural sinful nature. What a wonderful combination. And it's not that he's been bad, he's just been getting into stuff.

He went and took all the things from the top rack of the dishwasher and put them randomly on the bottom rack. He went and dumped all the organizing tubs into the middle of the room making one giant pile of toys that he had 'fun' picking up. Just for fun, he decided to dump all his bath toys into the shower while I was in it. You get the picture. Whenever we have something like this happen, I know a tickle session is in order. Just something to get that energy out when it's just too bitter cold (not to mention all the snow that he's not particularly fond of - pictures later) to be outside.

Today I decided that he could play downstairs while I got ready for the day. He's usually really good. Usually. This is what I found.



I think a tickle session is in order.





On Sunday morning, I sent Evan ahead of me to get his shoes on. When I finally came downstairs, he was ready to go. As I was about to put his coat on I looked down at his feet. "Oh Evan" I said.


Man, I love this kid.

Random Thought

I had my picture taken the other day for a passport. I looked cute (I thought) and I was ready to go get the pictures done. When I got them back, I was horrified.

Really? Seriously?! I looked like that?!

And then it hit me why it is that pretty much no one likes their drivers license, passport, or school photo. You don't know the person behind the camera and so your smile isn't genuine and you look all funny with this pasted on crescent in the middle of your face!

I Rest My Case

The view from our front door this afternoon.

Today is day 9 of gray and snow and no sunshine.

I was really hoping those few people who told me that winter here wasn't that bad were telling the truth. They weren't. Winter here in Cleveland is nothing like Colorado. At all. Sure we had days where it was gray and snowed. But the next day was usually a day with clear blue skies and sunshine and the snow was gone like that. Poof! You got to enjoy the beautiful white winter wonderland for the day or so, and then it's just cold (but it's a dry cold) and you wait for the next snow a week or so later. But if I have one more person tell me I should be used to this because it snows in CO, too, I think I may just scream.

Ok. Maybe not. But I'll want to.

Last Tuesday it was gray and spit snow off and on all day. Today it's full on, no turning back, snowing frozen cats and dogs out there. And except for 2 hours tomorrow which is "scheduled for" partly cloudy (which really just means you see a giant white orb as the sun tries to burn through the thick gray mess), the next 10 days are forecasted to be cloudy and snowy.

It's right about now that I'm so thankful to have tickets to CO for three weeks, and that we leave 2 weeks from tomorrow.

Through all of this, though, I am so thankful. I'm thankful for a garage so that if and when I do venture out of the house i don't have to clean my car off. I'm thankful for good friends who live 3 doors down and I can just run, literally, over for a chat or some dinner. I'm thankful for hot water. I'm thankful for my smiling rays of sunshine. I'm thankful for my elliptical downstairs - because seriously, I don't think I could make it the entire winter without exercising.

Even though I'm thankful, I really wouldn't mind if the snow let up. Or if it at least got nice enough to drive out there without fearing someone else being an idiot and slamming on their brakes and skidding right into me. Maybe a slightly irrational fear. I'm dealing with it.

More of the beautiful white stuff. I'm so glad I have no where to go.

Uh-oh!

I think every parent's dream is for their children to magically only acquire the good traits and habits from the parents and disregard all the other, instead learning from the mistakes and making better habits in their place.

Of course, that's a very fictional world, but one can hope, right?

Well, my hopes are dashed. I don't have a funny story of Evan using a "tone" yet, or giving a "look" - something I'm not proud to claim, but he has picked up on, I think, an underlying trait. A trait that can not be taught, and to my knowledge can not be un-taught. I think he's partly OCD. Not in the clinical manner, of course, but just slightly. Like his momma.

The other night while at dinner he actually looked at me and told me he didn't want his carrots touching anything else. Uh-oh! I tried to tell him it was all right. I even showed him how it was ok but he wasn't buying it. Unfortunately, this is all me. And as much as I've tried to shelter him from the fact that I like things in a row, and I don't like my food to touch, and I have to have my socks on a certain way, and so on and so forth - he caught on. In almost every aspect. Socks included.

We knew it was coming, though, I think. When he was little - I mean, littler - he would line up little people, their faces all in the same direction. Same thing with our shoes. The stories are endless. But I think it's official now. He's a little OCD and I'd better watch out.

Just a little bit of proof from this morning. Both boots lined up exactly alike. One slightly in front of the other and opposite of where they should be. And this isn't the first time this has happened like this, either.

8 Months

It's that time again! Drew is now a whopping 8 months old and loving life.

Just "One of those days..."

Yesterday was just "one of those days" for me. I was homesick. I missed friends. I yearned for a view of the mountains like no other. I wanted to just hop in the car and drive the quick hour to my mom's to help her dress the tree. I longed for our cute little townhouse.

But then last night happened and I was surrounded by great gals at a cookie decorating party and I was reminded of how 'good' I have it here in Ohio. True, I don't like the weather, but the people here are amazing. I really feel blessed with so many wonderful ladies to lean on and laugh with.

And just like that - I wasn't homesick anymore. Sure, I'm still super-duper excited to go home for Christmas, but I'm also looking forward to all we have planned between now and then!

Right now, Scot is with Evan out shopping for Christmas gifts for me. I love it! Scot told me that he wanted to do this and I just thought it was the sweetest thing ever. Evan, of course, was all about time with daddy and going to Target!!

As always - pictures!!

The "men" on their way out shopping this morning!!


On our way out the door last night. Drew reminds me of the little brother on "My Christmas Story" all bundled up and unable to move.


We decorated (and ate) to our hearts content.


Drew was pretty happy, too.


We had our first ever, unprompted, arm around the brother moment!! So cute.

Speaking of cute things, here's a quick list of things Evan's doing right now:

• He's never seen Sesame Street, but we have a place mat with all the characters and he knows all their names. The Count, though, is "Counter"
• We have been singing the Happy Birthday song a lot lately, and it's not uncommon to hear him singing it to himself
• Yesterday, clear as a bell, Evan looked out the window and said "Oh my goodness, mommy! Snowing!"
• When I tell him what we're about to do: eat lunch, go for a ride, help make dinner -- his response is "That's FUN!!"
• When asked what the man says when the soccer ball goes into the net: GOOOOOOAL!
• We have a little book that tells about the Christmas story. It starts off This is Mary. This is the donkey Mary rode to Bethlehem. And so on. Well, when I ask Evan what the important part of Christmas is, his response is "Donkey!" So I just go with it and ask questions like "But who was riding the donkey?" and go from there!
• Evan can now sing his address and that makes me happy
  

Let the Creativity Continue

What's Christmas without home made felt ornaments?

That's a Wrap

When my sewing bug hits, I take full advantage. Just because I can sew, does not mean I enjoy it all the time. I usually need something fun and easy to get my juices flowing and then I just go with it!

Take today, for instance.

I had to run into Joann's for something and I just happened to pass by their "Remnants" rack. Can I just say I love the remnants rack?! Full of neat little treasures all just the right size for little projects like mine! Projects? Wait. Project. Singular.

For a while now - as in since we moved here and Evan started sleeping in a big boy bed with a pillow - I've been wanting to make him a pillowcase. Somehow I never had/made the time to run to Joann's when I thought of it or I never thought of it when I was in there. Today though, I remembered right as I was looking at the remnants rack!

Of course I let Evan choose which fleece he wanted (because we all know fleece is the best material next to flannel for a winter pillowcase!). Cloud print, crazy 60's tie-dye with peace signs, or solid electric blue. Thankfully, he went with the blue. Within 10 minutes of coming home, I was sitting at the sewing machine and watching the project take shape. Within, oh, about 4 minutes, I was done. Now that's what I call simple and easy.

Look how soft, mommy!

This was all gearing me up for my actual project which I did as soon as the boys went down for their naps. I finally did Drew's stocking so he doesn't feel left out Christmas morning.

I love stockings. Seriously. I could have absolutely no presents under the tree but a stuffed-to-the-top bursting-at-the-seams stocking and be completely happy. Because of this, I was very picky on our stockings when we got married. I looked high and low for just the right stocking. One big enough to hold lots of goodies, but not cheesy, and not out of our price range.

Considering we were on a med school budget (read: living paycheck to paycheck), the options were slim. Well, there were no options, really. So I decided to make my own. I bought enough red suede-like fabric at walmart for 6 stockings and went to work. (I'm not saying anything with that comment, only that I wanted enough stocking material in the event we had 4 children - both of our 'top number'). Four years later, I am now adding the next stocking to the collection.

And...that's a wrap.

December, Really?

As I sit down to write this, snow swirling outside my window and the boys laughing and watching The Snowman mere feet from me, I am amazed, as always, at how fast time goes. Also how much faster time is going than when I was in high school or college or even recently married.

How is that? Why is that? Time travels at the same speed no matter what - so why does it feel so much faster? One of life's greatest mysteries, I think.

I feel more settled in Cleveland now than I did a month ago and for me, this is such a praise. Maybe it's the few Christmas decorations scattered around the first floor to make things seem a little more cozy since we're not getting a tree this year. I have lights on the mantle and a little nativity scene there too. I have balls hanging where stockings should be and little Christmas accents here and there. It's not much, but it does make the place feel more Christmas-y! The music helps, too, of course! Maybe it's the true community I'm beginning to feel amongst the gals at playgroup and in Bible study along with my wonderful friend, Jamie. Maybe it's the fact that Scot is starting to like work a little bit better, or at least feel like he's getting the hang of things more. It could also be that I was forced to "own it" this past week when we had people over for Thanksgiving dinner and house guests before and after that. Cleveland doesn't feel like 'home' yet, but at least I'm starting to feel like I'm coming home when I walk into my house.

The frazzled feeling of the holidays is starting to set in. I need to tweak the Christmas letter and nail down the list of who all is getting hard copies this year as most everyone will read our letter via email or the blog or facebook. I'm not hosting this year as we're going to be in CO, but I will need a few days to pack, and a few days more to think about what to pack. Isn't that the way it always goes, though? I try to pack all three (boys and me) of our clothes for three weeks into one bag. So that takes a little planning! We are getting so excited to go back home -- it will be fun to see friends and family alike, take deep breaths of cool mountain air, and enjoy the beauty of 'the peak' from my parent's living room.

We're going light on gifts this year since we're traveling and so the emphasis (gift wise) will be in/on the stockings. Which reminds me, I need to get those together, and I need to make Drew's stocking. Ahh. Like I said, the frazzled feeling is setting in.

I'm always curious what other people/families do for Christmas gift wise. I grew up with Hanukkah, so Christmas morning was very much family/Christ centered and not a crazy morning of wrapping paper and bows and toys everywhere (that was saved for birthdays!). While we're not going to continue the Hanukkah tradition with the boys, I think we are going to make a concerted effort to keep Christmas morning as simple as possible. Big breakfast, stockings, a few presents under the tree, and quality family time. I know the boys may not like this as they get older and go to friends houses and see the mountains of new toys, but I'm hoping they grow to appreciate the tradition. Scot would really like to do "soup kitchen" type of work sometime around the holidays, too, and when the boys get older we'll try to start that tradition as well.

I feel like I'm starting to ramble a bit. I don't mean to.

I can hear the ending strains to the movie, which is my cue to wrap up anyways.

Happy Wednesday!