Sunday with Fu Manchu

Xia again. On Sunday 11/1/09 we got an extra hour to sleep in. Yeah! First I modeled a ring with lips on it that I won at the All Saints party. I call them my MMMMs:

Then I enjoyed some great music from Fu Manchu:

Is that Isa?

This is wrong on so many levels and yet, so hilarious. Isa is wearing a child size pair of funny nose glasses that Xia won at the All Saints Party. Poor little thing...

All Saints Day 2009

Xia here. We had another great evening celebrating All Saints Day with our church family. You can see how fun it was last year. This year I was St. Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. I gotta give Mommy credit for throwing the costume together. She took a Burger King crown and turned it into my shiny foily crown:

Waiting to process:

Maryam in her Saint Costume (sorry, Mommy can't remember who she was... but she was so impressed by how Maryam's Daddy got the host to float):

Heather, Isa, Isaac and Gianna:

And here I am having a ton of fun at the cake walk game:





Lots of fun celebrating a lot of wonderful saints that have set such inspiring examples for us all.

Isa is Seven Months Old

I turned seven months old on Friday 10/30/09! I'm up to two servings of cereal a day now with fruit at one meal and veggies at another. So far so good. And of course, I'm still growing!

Halloween 2009

It's me again, Xia. We had a great time trick or treating on Friday 10/30/09. I decided to be a cheerleader again. Isa wore the pumpkin outfit I wore my first Halloween. We had great weather and made it all around the neighborhood.

Here's Isa, Daddy and me before we left:

Here I am:

Here's Daddy and Me looking at all the goods. Note the hole in my stocking on my right knee? I took quite a spill on the road for my first batch of skinned up knees. Didn't stop me though!

And here's Isa trying to get in on the action:

Lastly, a movie of me enjoying a Whopper:



Hope you all had a Happy Halloween too!

Isa Petting Herbie

Oh, I just love Herbie. I was showing him the love on Thursday 10/29/09 by giving him some much needed petting:

Xia and Her Friends

I have SO MANY friends. That's what I like to call all of my stuffed animals. I especially like to give them rides in Mommy's shoes. Here I am on Sunday 10/25/09 doing just that:

Millersville University Homecoming 2009

Mommy here. I am proud to be a grad of Millersville University (1991). However, in all my years living right here near the university, I never attended a homecoming. This year, I saw it advertised in the papers for Saturday 10/24/09 and decided to give it a try. Turns out they have had a big parade the last few years and this year they also added a Fall Fest full of activities for families. It was so nice to be back on campus. I really enjoyed my 4 years there.

The parade was great. At the very end of it was an honest to goodness Calliope - how cool!



Xia had fun at the petting zoo:

Then Xia got her face painted. A cute pumpkin for a cute little pumkin!!



The Millersville Mascots - the Marauder on the left and Scully:

Xia gets her day as a Marauder:

Ah, the memories. Never in my days at MU did I think I'd be standing next to the pond with an almost 3 year old and a 7 month old strapped onto me with my husband taking my picture. Wow, a lot can happen in 17 years!

The swans are still there (though they get new ones every couple of years). Miller and Sville:

Isa being her adorable self:

Then we headed to Brooks Gym to hear Stephen Courtney and his Band of Friends:



What a great time. Thanks MU!!

Haunting the Zimmerman Household

Xia here. We decorated the house a little bit for Halloween on Friday 10/23/09. Mommy hung up some orange and purple lights on the bushes out front. We hung up a big platic glow-in-the-dark skeleton on the lamp post. Mommy got a nice shot of me with our pumpkins:

Then Mommy hung up the skull and crossbones flag on our big flagpole. Wonder what the neighbors think of that one!

An Evening with the Zimmermans

Just some random pics from Thursday evening 10/22/09. First Xia in deep contemplation...do I have to go to bed now or is there some way out of this...

Here's Isa having fun with the bear mobile in Mommy and Daddy's bed and then rolling over to grab at the camera (the antics of the evening routine):



And Xia doing more talking into her cup than brushing of teeth:

We Are Devo

Xia here. We took Mommy to work on Wednesday 10/21/09 and as soon as we got into the car I asked to hear some Devo...

Xia Loves Tea Parties

Here's what the playroom looked like after Grammy left on Tuesday 10/20/09. What a grand day of tea parties!

Xia the Performer

Okay, I admit it, I like to perform AND I like to watch myself perform. There - I said it! I think these videos taken on Monday 10/19/09 demonstrate this trait very well...

Peanut Butter Mouth

Okay, Xia here. Now tell me, have YOU ever experienced peanut butter mouth? I sure have! This was taken on Sunday 10/18/09:

Volleyball with the Carmos

Xia here. Mommy's cousin, Stacey, only lives about 40 minutes away, but she is very busy with her 3 teenaged girls. Her eldest, Ashley, is now a freshman in college and living the dorm life. Her next child, Kaitlyn, is quite the volleyball player and had a tournament here in Lancaster on Saturday 10/17/09. Her youngest, Shannon, was also at the tournament. So, when Mommy got the call that morning that they were in the area, she jumped up and got Isa and I all dressed and ready and into the car at record speed (Daddy was helping a friend with a garage sale).

I had so much fun with Kaitlyn and Shannon and their friends. Here are some photos and videos from our fun day...

First, Isa in the exersaucer before Mommy got the call and ripped her outta there!

Here I am with Katilyn and Shannon's friends:

Intense Kaitlyn during a match (she's #12):

Stacey and Isa:

Isa with Kaitlyn and Shannon:

A video of me playing with one of Shannon's friends:



We were pretty tired when we finally left the tournament. Don't you think so?

Thanks for calling us Carmo family. Please do so again REAL SOON!!

Celebrating Aunt Jo Anne

Mommy here. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Aunt Jo Anne passed away on Monday 10/5/09. Isa and I traveled home on Friday 10/9/09 to be with my Mom and the rest of the family. We went to her viewing that evening and the line NEVER stopped. This was an amazing woman who was very involved with her family AND the community. On Saturday 10/10/09 we went to her funeral and then a wake afterwards at my cousin Kelly's home. It was so great to be with almost the ENTIRE extended family remembering Jo Anne. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of her children or grandchildren. But here are some photos of the family...

My cousin Brian:

My Mom, Isa and me:

Cousins Michael and Robert:

Cousin Tom holding Isa:

Marlon enjoying some Rock Band and the Carly's great game room:



Aunt Patti:

and my Grandmother's brother, Great Uncle Jimmy (it was so good to see him since Grandma and Grandpa are both deceased. It was good to have someone from their generation there!):

And here's a great photo of the remaining 10 Orendorff children with Uncle Jimmy:

After the long day full of so much love and memories, we headed back to my Mom's place. Kira decided to stay with us and had fun entertaining Isa:



On Sunday 10/11/09, we all went to church and then Isa and I headed back home. Here's a nice shot of Mom, Kira and Isa before we left...

Xia Sings Her ABCs

Here I am on Thursday 10/8/09 singing my ABCs. I've come a long way, baby!

Xia Doing the Pee Pee Dance

Sorry, but that's what Mommy and Daddy called it... my pee pee dance. I had a very full diaper on Tuesday 10/6/09 and decided to celebrate with this silly dance. Seems a wet diaper just doesn't bother me in the least. I hear the parents saying something about making potty training interesting...

Missing Aunt JoAnne...

Hi, this is Stephanie, Xia and Isa's Mommy here. I have a heavy heart because my Aunt JoAnne Peterson passed away unexpectedly on Monday 10/5/09. We had just seen her on Saturday 10/3/09 at my cousin's engagement party. She was vibrant and full of life that day. I guess you never know when God is going to come and knock at your door. Though I know she is in that wonderful Kingdom we are all striving to get to, it is still hard for those of us left behind.

JoAnne was the 2nd child of 12 in the Orendorff bunch. My mother was number 6. She had five children and they now have 12 children - so that's 12 grandkids. I am so grateful for the Peterson homestead because I really grew up there with my extended family. All throughout my childhood the family would gather at Aunt JoAnne's house for summer weekend cookouts, Christmas Eve parties and hosts of other occasions. All of the brothers and sisters who lived nearby would come with their spouses and all of their kids. I grew up with all of my cousins playing and having so much fun at the Petersons. We would stay all day and then all of us kids would fall asleep in a heap on the living room floor. One by one the parents would gather us up in the wee hours of the night to travel home to our beds, sleeping in the car. Or we would just stay over night and JoAnne never cared. She fed us all and got us to church too!

JoAnne was also very involved with the Girl Scouts and that's why I became one myself. We would go to camp Cherry Hill every summer and I learned so much singing around the camp fires and sliding down a massive water slide. Using a sit-upon and mess kit. Making pancakes over a fire on the bottom of and upside down coffee can. So many wonderful memories.

Oh, and was she ever crafty! She could sew, knit, crochet, make any kind of craft you can imagine. She was always doing something with her hands. Many a Christmas tree ornament that I pull out each year was made with love by JoAnne. I have a beautiful baby blanket that she made for Xia that I just love. Also a cross stitched picture in a frame for Xia. She was working on something for Isa too.

JoAnne ran a day care at which I spent the summer between my freshman and sophomore college years working. Boy, talk about a time of learning. I'm using a lot of those lessons now in raising my own kids. Having that job over the summer helped me to save part of the money to get me back to college for my second year. I'm so grateful for that.

She was also very involved with the Catholic Church in her area. She was a lector and kept all of the altar linens clean and made a lot of them too. What a wonderful service to her faith.

I sure am going to miss Aunt JoAnne. She was only 68 years old. May God Bless her soul as she rests in His arms. Her husband, Pete, who died when he was so very young, is now with her again. There is much peace and happiness knowing this.

Here are some pictures from our last family reunion to share with you...

Aunt JoAnne:


Aunt JoAnne with her most of her family:


Aunt JoAnne with the WHOLE Orendorff bunch:

Xia is Thirty Three Months Old

Well, I am almost 3 now! Here I am on Monday 10/5/09 at thirty three months old...