troyer

Best of 2009

2009-12-18T13:25:00.002-06:00

So it's been a LONG time since we've posted anything here. That in itself should help you conclude what we've been up to. It's taken me three days to go through the year's photos. Here's the best of the best. (because there are thousands that didn't make the cut- no joke). One day i will figure out a much faster way of sharing all this with all of you. Thanks for being patient.

A very brief summary of the year:

January- It was COLD! We stayed inside.

February- Wes turned 2. Aunt Sarah came for a visit.

March- Hudson turned 5 and had his first kid party.

April- Visited Serna's in OK. Took the plunge and bought a mini-van.

May- We had our 8th anniversary.

June- We all spent a week at JUMP camp at church. Then for much needed vacation we went to Michigan for 3 weeks with the Troyers.

July- Hudson started Kindergarten. (year round school district)

August- Flew by.

September- Hudson started soccer. Loves playing goalie.

October- Kids were Waldo (from book) and a STL Cardinal for Fall Festival.

November- Spent a nice quiet Thanksgiving alone at home. It was perfect.

December- Passarella/Cobb/Long clan is coming from NJ, NY, PA, TX to stay with us for Christmas. Then Troyer/Serna clan is coming from OK, MI for New Years.

Kids are great, healthy, and getting smarter than us daily. I (Resa) and still enjoying running my own business. Resa Design had a big year and kept us all on our toes. Keith is still enjoying working at SLFC. He officially manages a few people now and loves that aspect of his work a lot. Tons of new events at church this year, so he's been designing and planning like crazy- among his other responsibilities. The church is growing and better than ever. We are still so thankful we live here to be part of it. (So no- we have NO plans to move north, east or otherwise.)

Click here to view these pictures larger

took the plunge..

2009-03-23T10:31:00.001-05:00

You can now try to keep up with my by twitter

@resatroyer

I'm sure keith won't be far behind. He likes me to try these things first! :)

(You can also find us both on facebook where there are a bunch of photos too.)

Kindergarten here we come...

2009-02-24T18:56:00.003-06:00

Well H-dog is all signed up for kindergarten. A few trees of paperwork completed and sent home for more 'mommy homework'. And the supply list is in hand. Why a nap mat he want's to know. But he's excited and we are too. [And a little sad.]

So mark your calendar, first day July 16. I assume the bus will be here around 8:50a.m. if you want to join us for pictures.

In the mean time we are believing God for:

the right teacher for Hudson's learning style and needs;
the right mix of classmates to facilitate his learning and growth;
safety and protection over the whole school and all the busses;
that only beneficial things would be spoken over his life and his heart would be protected;
for Godly friendships to develop for him and for us with other parents;
and lots of favor.

(sorry that picture is so bad. it's the only one on the school's site.)

Snow Day

2009-01-28T11:04:00.003-06:00

Playing with the boys.

2009-01-22T15:25:00.003-06:00

I have no idea what the temperature is today, but it was warm enough to play outside, so we did. A brisk walk (h-bike ride) to the pond, some fun with the camera, and back. We were all ready for lunch upon return and at this very moment both boys are sleeping. I know- AT THE SAME TIME. I was shocked too. There are two fun pics I took. Keith's been playing with the camera/photos a lot lately, so i think i was inspired. The one of W, could use some more photo shopping. I needed a creative challenge today, but then time ran out.

Back to work I go. Just a quick break to say hi to everyone and let you know we're not frozen solid!

Wes...23 months.

2009-01-08T14:13:00.003-06:00

Wes had his 2nd Denver screening today. It's a test used by our school district/Parent's As Teachers program to see where he is as relative to his age. So I take these things with a grain of salt. But he's pretty much on target for age 2. A few things he's behind on, but the age range on them is up to age 2 1/2-3 (like jumping up with two feet off the ground, colors, and there was something else).

He's a sweet boy and talking more than ever. Putting words together to express himself and his needs. It's a bit of a relief not having to speak babble and scream as much any more. Just a minute ago he woke from his nap and he was saying, "Mommy, come." "Mommy, I done." So progress I think. :)

We 'wuv' you Wes.

Sada

2009-01-08T13:53:00.002-06:00

My beautiful little sister Sarah is 13. She's smart, talented, stylish, sweet, beautiful, fun, and a big highlight of our visits with the family. This is evidenced by the fact that the first morning we were home from our two weeks in New Jersey, Wesley called me Sada (his form of Sarah) when I went to get him. I was even talking to him and he still thought I was Sarah. I guess in the dark all those sisterly genes are pretty similar.

Thanks Aunt Sarah for playing with the boys and helping take care of them. They love hanging out with you and will always love you just the way you are.

kinder GARDEN

2009-01-08T13:43:00.002-06:00

We're on the countdown to the start of Kindergarten (July 16- i think), so we talk about it a lot. Next month we even get to visit and spend sometime at the school which will include a bus ride. He is really looking forward to that.

I'm sure the change from 24/7 with mom and dad to 8/5 at school will be harder on us than him, so we are all easing into it.

Anyway. This happened about two months ago, but I wanted to write it down.

We were talking about Kindergarten, as we usually do. And H-dog popped up with this comment:

"And we can pick the flowers we grow?!"

We were like, well I guess if you plant flowers, maybe they will let you pick them. And then all of the sudden we realized he thought KindergarTen was kinderGARDEN and a place where he would be planting flowers. Quite a brilliant deduction even if it was wrong. We have since cleared up the misunderstanding. Hopefully another visit or two will solidify the formal education opportunity vs. gardening location in his mind.

I WON!!

2009-01-08T13:33:00.002-06:00

Guess who won the 8G iPod Nano here ME!!

I have proof that it was a totally random drawing, but with God, what's really random? I choose a silver one, a bit boring I know, but a classic. I'm sharing it with Keith while his is is under the weather. He's already got it all loaded up and running. The shake feature is fun and the screen quality is amazing. I'm sure there are other great new features yet to be discovered.

It's been an interesting year of prize winnings for me. All on the internet. A backpack from Land's End, cute note-cards from Motherhood with Attitude, Veggie Tales DVD -The Pirates Who Don't do Anything, a pink leather Day Timer journal, and I'm sure there was something I'm missing. A friend mentioned, after I had won that great backpack, that I was reaping for all the things I giveaway. Funny, I never really thought of giving things away at Resa Design as sowing, but I guess it really is. Cool how you can sow without even realizing it.

None the less, I am super thankful to all the great sponsors and site owners for hosting all the giveaways I've won. And thankful to God for blessing us beyond our needs.

Happy New Year!

-Resa

Win an iPod!

2008-12-19T16:37:00.004-06:00

One of our friends has a great resource for all your financial issues. Check out Christian PF. While you're there be sure to check out how you can WIN an iPod and other great goodies like H&R Block Tax software, C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce on audio, and other great books.

Check out this and this article too- I wrote them!

Happy Winning!!

Resa

We had the talk...

2008-11-12T12:09:00.003-06:00

So H knows the truth now.

Never thought it would be so hard to talk about.

It started with me telling H (while listening to a song) that Hosanna is another name for Jesus. How his little brain got to this I have no idea...

H: And Hosanna is another name for the man who wears a red coat with deers.

M: Um... NO! It is not another name Santa.

H: It is mom!!!!

M: It is not. And I don't want you saying that anymore. Santa is not a real person. Jesus is.

H: (looking confused)

M: Santa is pretend. Like Boz or talking veggetables. They are not real right?

H: Right, but Drew and Gracie are (animated people).

M: Well they look like people, but they are just pretend. Someone made them on a computer and then into a movie. Boz stories are pretend, not true. A true story is like your Hudson Taylor book. That's a story about a real person and someone wrote down what he really did. If i were going to write a true story about you it would say, "H. E. Troyer was born on March xx. He is eating a quesidilla on a blue plate." That's the truth right?

H: Yes.

M: So that's called a true story. Or we call true story books, non-fiction. If my story said, "H.E. Troyer is blue and he flies high in the sky." That would not be true would it?

H: No.

M: So that's called a pretend story, or an un-true story. We call un-true and pretend stories fiction.

etc....

M: So Santa is a fiction story. People and reindeer can not really fly. The Bible and Jesus is a true story....

H: (is totally getting it)

M: But you know what. We have to keep it a secret that Santa is a fiction story. Some mom's and dad's haven't told their kids that Santa is pretend. Sometimes people dress up in a Santa costume. But they are not really Santa. You wore a lion costume, but you're not really a lion. Right?

H: Ok. I won't ever ever ever ever tell anyone that Santa is pretend mom. I won't tell any kids.

M: Great!

phew... I can't wait until his vocabulary allows me to not have to define every new word with an example in order to make a simple statement. Santa's a fake would be so much easier to say!

That said, as in years past- No gifts from Santa please!!

Fall Festival Fun with the Troyer boys.

2008-11-01T10:11:00.003-05:00

H-dog the Lion, W- the Zebra. H-dog informed me this was like Madagascar, a movie he saw at a fun event at church. I guess their movie names are Alex and Marty. I've only seen it once, and maybe not entirely, so I'll just take his word for it.

H-dog also got to wear his costume to school on Thursday. He was very into it. They had a parade around the hall an he came home with a bag of loot: stickers, crayons, books, tattoos, and a few candies. As expected, he opened the bag, lined everything out, took inventory, put it back in the bag, and did it again.

This is the first year he's been really into Halloween. It was fun to share it with him. No trick-or-treating since we went to our church party before it got dark, but he delivered bags of treats to the neighbors and got a kick out of that. Giving is a lesson we try to reinforce anyway. (Plus most of the candy I'm sure had it's share of nuts.) This does mean that we have almost all our treats left over. Glad I got goldfish and teddy grahams. It's so nice that they are making those available to Halloween treats now. The size is perfect for snacks. You may see W holding a bag in one of these pictures.

Here are some pics for the night's activities....

No, I did not make this. are you kidding!

Brothers through and through.

Hudson's first Ferris Wheel ride. He really wanted to ride the motorcycles like they have at the boardwalk! (obviously we did not have those here.)

Our newest blessing..

2008-10-23T12:19:00.002-05:00

We have been wanting to get the boys a swing set for awhile. They asked for $$ to put towards it for recent holidays even. Well H-dog more then W. Our neighbor had a great one we were going to replicate (in our free time). Then this summer she mentioned she had a dream that someone moved her swing set. (She's an older lady). I asked her if she really was ready to part with it. She was and just didn't know what to do with the big thing. I told her we would take it, even buy it from her. Now, remember, no free time for building, and she lives two houses away, so a pretty easy move for us! She said, TAKE IT! No money, nothing. So a few weeks later, okay it was probably like 2 months, we finally had a nice day and time to take it apart, move it, and put it back together. Handy Daddy did some tricks and make it even stronger. Now we just have to get to the store to use that $$ for some new swings. We'll be all set. (Although the boys don't seem to care at all.)

While it's getting colder, we have snuck in a few nice days for swing play. W does not want the baby swing anymore and prefers to sit on the big one. Awesome- just as we finally get to use the baby swing that was a gift for H-dog so many years ago. (It has perviously been used in the basement where dad hung it up from the beams.) So I guess we'll leave it hanging for visitors for a while.

Catch them in action...

Pumpkin Patch 2008

2008-10-23T12:08:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago we took the boys here

And no, i did not dress H-dog in this tee. He picks it out himself about every third day. What can I say, he's got good taste :)

I'm getting married mom...

2008-10-23T11:53:00.003-05:00

Tuesday, October 21, 2008::

H: Hi Mom. I'm going to marry Paige. (classmate)

M: Really? Why?

H: Because I love her.

M: (to self) Great! What are they teaching him at this school.)

...5 hours later....

M: H, tell Dad what you told me about getting married.

H: I'm going to marry Paige Dad.

D: Why?

H: Because I love her.

D: Does Paige love Jesus?

H: I don't know. But Jesus loves Paige. He loves everybody on the whole earth. Even the worker guys, and Ethan (a friend in Georgia).

D: Yes, Jesus does love everybody.

H: Yeah. When I'm 31 and she's 29 (like he and i are) we're going to get married too.

WHAT???? Where does this come from? Totally those girls at school putting the moves on my handsome son. I think we're going to home school!! (just kidding) Well at least no dating until he's 18 :)

Driving lessons.

2008-09-17T12:30:00.003-05:00

A few weeks before our Labor Day trip to see Grandma and Grandpa in Michigan, H-dog told me he wanted to drive one of Grandpa's tractors all by himself. I told him I wasn't sure that was something he could do. He insisted he could, he was, as he reminded me, four! (He also recently told me when he's 29 he can make his own peanut butter sandwich. Hopefully he'll figure that out before 29!)

So, upon arrival at Grandpa's he made his request. Grandpa was thrilled to oblige. Here's a few pics of one of his many laps around the yard. (And to ease all your nerves, it was going only as fast as grandpa was walking next to him.)

This event inspired me a little. Jesus instructs us to 'ask' so many times in the Bible. Sometimes I guess I think I know what He'll say, or that I'm not qualified for what I want, so I don't even ask. H-dog. No way, he knew what he wanted to do, and I guess he figured, as we all should, the worst Grandpa, or in my case God, would say is no (although if you know a grandpa, thats unlikely).

How to melt a cat. According to a 4 year old.

2008-09-17T12:14:00.002-05:00

As you know, we don't/won't have pets, but last night our dinner prep conversation ended with melting cats in the oven.

Here's how it went: (H-dog was watching me make dinner.)

H: It's 4-0-0 mom. (reading the clock on the oven)

Mom: No, that means 400 degrees, I'm cooking dinner so that means how hot it is in the oven. 400 is very very hot.

Dad: Today it was only 72 outside, so 400 is a lot bigger than that.

Mom: If you tried to be in the oven when it's 400 you would be very hurt, burn, or melt something.

H: So if you put a cat in the oven when it's 400 it would melt mom.

Mom & Dad: (WHAT DID HE SAY?) Hudson, that's a bad idea. But yes, it's too hot for anyone to be in there.

Thank God he was not really serious (and that we don't have a cat). It was all we could do to not laugh because the look on his face was totally serious. And don't worry, we told him that was a bad idea, but yes, the oven is very hot, so stay out!

All in a day with our 4 year old!

In an attempt to keep my parents happy...

2008-09-13T12:54:00.003-05:00

....I'm going to try to keep this blog more up to date, including photos of the grandkids :) No promises though, there are only so many hours in the day.

W is growing like a weed and trying to say every word he hears. H-dog can get him to repeat everything. For the good or bad. This is super cute. So while H-dog is exploring how letters join to spell words, W is learning his letters and spelling words he doesn't even know how to say. It's quite interesting.

My current fave photos of W at 19 mths!

Happy Birthday to the W!!

2008-02-14T20:49:00.003-06:00

I turned 1 a few days ago. I took my first step that day too. But I'm not much interested in taking anymore. Crawling is so much faster. Hudson is my best friend. I watch everything he does so someday I can be cool like him. I now ONLY drink cow's milk, it's great. But thanks mom for a good year of your yummy juice. I really like to talk on the phone, or at least listen to you talk, so call me anytime. Maybe next year I'll get my own cell phone for my 2nd birthday!! (hint hint)

bye bye,
w

www.flickr.com

Happy 2008

2008-01-04T13:59:00.001-06:00

Feet back on the cold ground in STL. Thanks to all how sent merry greetings this Christmas. H-dog has diligently hung each photo on the fridge surrounded by his huge letter magnets. You're part of the family now!

Highlights from our week long get-away:
Snowy tractor rides,
A "Lightning McQueen" Christmas for all (thanks mom for the stickers, even GGT was sporting one all day!),
Seeing the Hudson Hornet up close and personal (for free),
Seeing our favorite out of state friends up close and personal!,
Overnight at the Indigo Hotel with blueberry wallpaper (no joke!),
Hours and hours of fun without the kids in tow,
Dinner and Shopping at our favorite store,
and of course, celebrating the birth of our Savior!

Happy New Year to all. (Hopefully we'll get to blog again before 2009, but no guarentees!)

There are a few photos to the left.

Photo of the Year

2007-12-20T16:21:00.000-06:00

You Vote...
#1: "The Game"

#2: "Hats On"

#3: "The Scream"

#4: "All Smiles"

#5: "They Kiss" -taken by hdog himself!

we'll be back...

2007-12-20T15:36:00.000-06:00

so we aren't the best bloggers- as you can see from our now three posts!

we're off to spend the holiday with family... be back soon. and we promise to post photos when we get back!

update.

2007-12-18T07:36:00.000-06:00

3 or 4 number of times Hudson has been on the computer, by himself, with multiple programs open, claiming to be "working."
329 number of times that I have had the same breakfast with Hudson (either cheerios or chex).
107 times that Wesley has blown 'raspberries' with his lips. 2 times that he has done it in the last 6 weeks.
1 number of times that Wesley has crawled up the stairs (part of the way, with supervision).

hope to be adding more information and photos in the next day or two.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-18T07:26:00.000-06:00

2007: By the numbers.

5.75 Wesley Graham’s starting weight: 02/02/07.
1,468 Diapers Wesley has used.
4,374 Miles traveled out of state.
97.8% Amount of awake time Hudson is talking.
266,930 The number of hits on resadesign.com
19.4 hours Wes slept everyday in first 2 months.
2.6 gal. Milk consumed weekly.
1.3 Miles Hudson’s driven in the driveway on his trike.
5,087 Photos taken. 97 photos actually in print.
12.7 Hours using computer everyday.
352 PB & J sandwiches Hudson has had for lunch.
2 Knock-knock jokes Hudson knows.
14 times the kids make us laugh everyday.
ONE body, Spirit, hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God, and Father of all.
Ephesians: 4.4-6

Keith, Resa, Hudson, & Wesley