This year's "Christmas" Poem

It is a tradition in Joe's family to write a poem every year to go with Christmas Cards. The first few years we were married we actually got them out in Christmas Cards before the holiday, if only just barely. I'm pretty sure there's been a few years lately that were more like New Years poems. Last year he finished the poem on Christmas Eve and I'm pretty sure we just put it up on our blog, nothing else. Well this year Joe actually got it finished a few days before Christmas, but we got busy and now almost two weeks later I'm finally getting to posting it. Joey is the author of this little masterpiece. I think he gets better every year he does it. Hope you enjoy the sum up of our years events!

Hello again all you reading this from far and near,

It's another poem from the DeGraafs you get to hear.

I don't know why so long ago Dad started this rhyme,

But I swear as each year goes by it kicks by behine. (phonetically spelled)

After writing these things for ten years you see,

It's hard to stop, so here we go - please endure with me...

Our family has grown bigger this year that is quite true,

Katie Maren DeGraaf is our newest and has joined our little crew.

She came to us quite quickly just a few short days ago, (December 14)

If she had come any quicker, Kristy would have had her in the snow.*

Tyler turned 4 in November - he has grown a bunch,

He is the sweetest boy, but really packs a punch.

He's really into Batman and playing Lego Indiana Jones,

If we try to get him to do anything else he really wails and moans.

Kelley is in first grade this year, she is learning all she can,

She has found a talent in visual art - just like her old man.

Ballet is her newest thing for now, she's really having a blast.

Looking at our pocketbook I hope that it can last.

Kristy's working on the daycare - next year is number three.

She's so loving with those kids, a better Mom there cannot be.

She's bumped it up again this year with a brand new preschool program,

Twelve hours a day washing, cleaning, teaching and doing everything she can.

(With help from Misty our sister who I really must thank, I don't think Kristy could have dont it without her.)

Joey's still at SUU, the greatest school in the land!

He really loves his coworkers and thinks they're grand.

He spent half the year this year redecorating the yard,

Six tons of dirt he shoveled, seven would've been too hard.

Well we hope this note finds all of you well and with good cheer,

We wish to thank all of those who showed their love to us this year.

Please know of our love for you as we head for Two Thousand Ten,

And if you are passing by please come see us now and then.

With Love -

Maren, Tyler, Kelley, Kristy and Joey

*You can read the whole story and our other adventures on joeykristyandkids.blogspot.com

My Kids make me Laugh

This picture is from last month. The kids wanted to both be carried (a common problem) but as you can imagine at 8 months preggo I wasn't up to carrying either one of them. So Joey played the hero daddy and grabbed them both. They loved it as you can see!

Having a great day today. All my daycare kiddos are on vacation so it's just me and my munchkins. They just get cuter and more entertaining by the day. Just a few moments from today that have made me smile:

Yesterday Tyler got grounded from Lego Batman on the XBox for something (don't even remember what now). Today he asked to play and I told him he was still grounded. He said "But mom...if I'm grounded from Batman that's means I'm on the Naughty List!" I told him not to worry, he just needed to work hard to get back on the Nice list ;)

We were listening to Christmas Music this morning. Kelley was saying how she could NOT wait until Christmas. She was lamenting that she just wanted to go to bed all day today and tomorrow so then it would be Christmas. A song came on that's called "I just can't wait till Christmas." She points excitedly to the music player and says "This song is EXACTLY how I feel."

Tyler was in the kitchen and exclaimed "Oh NO!" Kelley asked why he said that. Tyler responded "Because I have Play-Doh up my nose!"

It still amazes me how much they pick up on. Yesterday Tyler noticed the fireplace and that it had glass on it. He wasn't quite sure how Santa was going to get in. So Kelley took over the explanation about Santa's magic and how it didn't matter that we had a small chimney or if there was a fire it in or that it had glass over it. She does the whole talking with her hands thing and her little pointing and explanation of the whole thing was very entertaining.

Daddy and Maren

I'm awake!

Maren is still sleeping much of the time, but I was able to snap these yesterday while Aunt Karmin was here. The lighting and color isn't really fantastic I know, but I love her little eyes just looking around so intently.





I'm loving just holding and spending time with her. Unfortunately she's now on the bilirubin lights for jaundice and so that cuts down on the time I can just cuddle her significantly. She's supposed to be in there most of the time. We are going in today again to check her levels and I'm hoping they've dropped enough we can be done with those. It's just the saddest little thing you've ever seen! She does seem to adjust after she's been in there for a bit, but when I first put her in there, especially if she's been out for more than an hour or so, she just screams and is so upset until she basically wears herself out and can sleep. Tyler was on the lights too and it doesn't seem like it took very long to get where he needed to be, so we'll hope for the best.

Katie Maren DeGraaf

Can I just say...she looks just like Kelley to me in this picture! I wasn't sure she had that look when she was born...but feel that way more every day. Tyler looked a lot the same as well. Maybe I'll try to scan in their pics so you can see for yourself. But it sure seems to me that all our babies have a certain look...

OK, so the first question we're always going to get is why didn't we just give her Maren as a first name if that's what she will go by? Those of you that know my family know we have Kristy, Kelsha, Karmin and Kember. My mom is Colleen, then there's Pete and Ryan who are kind of left out :) Well, when we named Kelley, it was NOT because of all the K names in my family. My mom's maiden name is Kelley and my parents nearly named my sister that. I've always liked then name and it just seemed to fit when she was born. Even after naming her Kelley I had NO intention of continuing with the K theme. We didn't know what Maren was before she was born, but we have both liked that name for a long time. It is my sister's middle name, as well as prominent in my family history. Since it was a name we both really liked, we were pretty sure that's what we would name our next girl, but we never get set a name before our babies are actually born. We talked about different names a lot and one day I mentioned that I liked the name Kate. Not Katherine, but Katie or Kate, I think is really cute. Joey loved it and thought Katie Maren was perfect. I suggested Maren Katie or Maren Kate, but by then he was kind of set on Katie Maren. Besides he said "I kind of want to continue with the K theme", which makes me laugh. It's my family thing and I didn't even want to do it. What is really funny, is that my parents didn't really intend to do it either. Karmin was supposed to be Monica! I remember being bugged when she came home as Karmin, because I liked Monica better. But such is life and now it seems we are carrying on the torch.

Someone asked if it's a family thing to go by middle names also. I guess it kind of is. My grandmother, at least one aunt and my brother all go by their middle names. I know it will be a pain for her. I already had to explain to the doctor's office today about it. Hmmm....is it too late to change it??? Speaking of which...I still don't really feel settled on the name really. Has anyone else gone through that? I didn't love Tyler's name either at first, but I knew there was no changing his name, Joe was determined there. There's some flexibility here though and we almost changed it yesterday in the hospital. Maren is for sure...it's just Katie I'm not sure about. I do like the name. I suggested it as a possibility. But we did find a name we liked better (Kennedy). Both Kelley and I like it better. I don't know that Joe likes he better necessarily, but he does like it. The problem is we didn't want to take it away from the sister(s) that suggested it to us, even though Maren won't go by it anyway. But I just keep going back to it.

The reasons I like Katie: It's Irish....my mom has a lot of Irish in her family history. Kelley is Irish also, if you didn't already know that. It's cute, fun, light. I played Kate in Taming of the Shrew. Not that I want my daughter to be named after the Shrew, but it was my first play and kind of a fun connection. It goes really well with Maren.

The reasons I like Kennedy: Both our other kids have last names for middle names (Madison and Thompson). Joe kind of wanted something a little more "elegant" than Katie, if we could come up with it and I think this fits the bill. Plus I just like it better for some reason. It's my fault really though. I was being a brat and wouldn't tell my family what we were considering until we decided and put it on the birth certificate paperwork. As soon as my sister heard it she suggested Kennedy. Loved it...but once the paperwork is filled out, it's harder to change your mind. It would have been easy yesterday, but now would be a big process to change it I'm sure.

Anyway...on a final note. We thought all along it was a girl. We both had a feeling for a while that our next baby would be a girl, way before we even got pregnant. Then after the ultrasound we both thought it was a girl. We would not have been shocked if it was a boy though, but it was just one of those feelings. Well speaking of my sweetheart, I think I'll go steal her from daddy and get ready for bed. Thanks for all the comments! We sure are loving her and enjoying this season with her here. Hope you are having just as Merry a holiday as we are!

Per request...

I guess we keep getting in trouble for not posting more pics of the baby! Here's a few more and Joe is bringing home his nice camera today so we can hopefully get some better ones. The kids are in love with her...it's really cute. Tyler keeps saying "I love her" and telling me the blanket he bought for her says "I love you", even though it doesn't :) This morning he asked if she was sleeping and if he could sleep with her. Kelley constantly wants to hold her as well and understands that even though she cries when she holds her, it's just because she doesn't know her as well and she will get used to her.

I will try my best to post more, better, up close pics of the baby today, along with a post about her name :) For now, enjoy...

Only a few hours old here (if that!)

More pics :)

Midwife Laurie Hansen, Maren and I

Because of the H1N1 they won't let any children in to visit :( But the kids seem to enjoy seeing their new sister through the nursery window at least.

Another one of baby and I. It is quite ironic to me that the one time I actually had my hair and makeup all done up, we didn't get the picture of us headed to the hospital, because I could barely get out the door, nor the picture of us right after delivery, because we had left the camera in the car. So this is several hours later. It still is better than my other after baby pics though :)

Just a fun one of the kids I took yesterday in their Christmas outfits.