Bedtime at the Fediw household

Just wanted to share a few pics of the cute kids getting ready for bed. Lydia likes to brush her own teeth with her 'Big Girl' toothpaste - the Aquafresh pump kind that I had as a kid.
Jackson likes to coo at the baby in the bathroom mirror. (In the 3rd picture, Jackson is trying to decide whether to play with the coveted Tigger chair or with his dancing feet. Very tough decision!)
And before going to sleep, they like to cuddle together, though it's usually in Lydia's bed.
Night-night sweet kiddos!

The Case of the Stolen Popcorn

Lennon gave Lydia a little bit of popcorn as a appetizer to lunch (to keep her hungriness at bay). Then, Lennon lay down on the couch to relax, while lunch cooked.
After ten minutes, he realized that Lydia was still commenting about how delicious her popcorn was. (Now I know she can be a slow eater sometimes, but this is popcorn!)
Lennon listened for a minute, and then heard Lydia get up from her table in the kitchen, and pitter-patter her way over to the counter where the popcorn bowl was.
He called to her, "Lydia, what are you doing?" Her response - "I dunno?" Lennon discovered that she had been sneakily stealing from the popcorn bowl for the last 10 minutes.

Ooh, Lydia was not happy that she had been found out. (We thought it was hysterical, but of course, we couldn't let her know that!)

The Familiar Memories of the Past Meet the New 'Normal' of the Present

So, today, I had the weird deja vu experience of having memories of the past interrupt the new normalcy of this life. We were driving along in our car, and as I looked out the windshield, I saw "Carson City Courthouse" written on the side of a brick building. Then, it hit me - we live in Carson City, Nevada. But we still have some stuff & memories from Rochester, New York. It was a collision of two parts of our lives - the old (our car from Rochester) meeting the new (Carson City).

Now, I know that we have lived here for ... almost 4 months now, but things still 'hit me' in waves. It's becoming normal to live here. We pretty much know our way around. We've found the best grocery stores, although nothing compares to Wegman's. (Sidenote: whenever we go back to NY for a visit, I am going to Wegman's every day, just to look around & to be in Weg's!) We have doctors, and a pharmacy; we have a great church, where we are connected. We are making friends and doing playdates, etc.

But I am still having a bit of a difficult time embracing Carson City as my home city now. I'm not exactly sure why, but here are some of my thoughts:
* This is the first place to which I have moved. (45 minutes away, to Lima, doesn't really count.) A person tends to compare (even subconsciously) the new place with the familiar, old place.
* It's different here. I like the sagebrush, and being able to see for miles and miles. I LOVE the mtns. So, the landscape is a plus.
* The city is quite small for a state capital; in fact, I believe, it is much smaller than Rochester.
* Carson City is located in a valley, which means that the layout of the city runs north-south along the valley floor, since buildings can only be built up so far into the side of the mtns. That being said, everything is very spread out (north-to-south). Since we live on the very north end of the city, it seems like a long trip to the south end where most of the new stores are.
* There doesn't seem like there is much to do here - skiing (at Lake Tahoe), off-roading, and lots of gambling. And that is probably why we feel a restless/lack-of-hope/lack-of-interest spirit in the spiritual air over Carson City.
* We aren't quite sure why we are here in CC. We feel that God led us here b/c of Lennon's job, but other than that, we aren't sure what we are to be doing here.
* We only have one car, which makes it difficult for the kids and I to do things out-and-about or with other families, when Lennon is at work.
* We moved here right before winter time.
* Before we moved, I had always worked at least 1-2 days each week outside of the home. So, I wasn't a full-time SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) until we moved here. It's a bit different than I thought, though I am adjusted to it now.
* I'm learning how to take time for myself, to do something that I like to do; that I am important as a person, not just as a wife, mom, homemaker, etc.
* We moved. Across the country. Away from family. Away from friends. With a new baby & a pre-schooler. We're crazy!

I think that's about it. I know we'll get involved in our church and possibly in our community, but we don't want to just rush into something w/o knowing it is the right thing for us to be doing at this time.

Thanks for letting me ramble and get my thoughts out into the air. My brain feels a little less cluttered now.

My realization of the day - Lydia is growing up

This evening, I did my hair in two French braids - just to keep it out of Jackson's grabbing hands. When she saw my hair, Lydia wanted me to "put circles" in her hair too, just like Mommy's.
As I braided one side and then the other, I remembered how my Mom used to French braid my hair.
Then I realized two things - (1) Lydia's hair was actually long enough to braid, and (2) my little girl is beginning to grow up!

Life here in 2009

Sorry to everyone for not writing a post sooner. We have all been taking turns being sick; what a sharing & preferring family we are! I think we are almost all better, just still a bit tired though.

Right after New Year's, my parents flew out to visit us for a few days! 'Twas wonderful! We enjoyed adult company & conversation, and the kids loved playing with Grandmommy & Bapa. We even celebrated Christmas together. A fabulous time together!

Christmas Eve

So, I am a bit sad today - nothing too terrible though. You see, traditionally, in the evening, we go to the Christmas Eve Service at our church. That is nice, but the part I will miss the most, the part that IS Christmas Eve to me is what follows the Christmas Eve Service.
Every year (for at least the past 9 years), we go over to my parents' house. Together with my parents and the Jenks', we make our own salads from the famous Fadner salad buffet. Afterwards, we sit around, joking & talking, exchanging & opening gifts.
Not only am I sad because we miss everyone and because we cannot be at the Fadner's house this evening, but I am sad because this is the 1st year that Scott & Lacy (his fiancee) will be at the Fadner/Jenks bash. I would have love to hang out with them more too.

But ... we will have a good time. I think, we will get into our pj's, make lattes and read the Christmas story by the light of the Christmas tree lights.

To all of our family and friends: We love you. We miss you lots. And we love you even more. We look forward to skyping & web-caming you on Christmas Day.
Much love from all of us,
Diana, Lennon, Lydia & Jackson

Stranded in Las Vegas

Early last Sunday morning, our family began an unplanned trip to the East Coast for Lennon's Grandpa's funeral. It was wonderful to be with extended family, even if the reason was to remember Grandpa together.
We left early (again) on Wednesday morning to head back home to Carson City. Our trip back was supposed to consist of two flights - one from Philly to San Fransisco, and one from SF to Reno, and then we'd drive home. The Philly to SF flight had an unadvertised stop in Las Vegas, to drop off people & pick up up others. We didn't know about this stop until after we had booked the tix.
After a tenuous 6-hour flight to Vegas (during which our kids cried for the 1st 5!), we began descending & realized that we had missed our connecting flight in SF, and we weren't even in SF yet! (Don't know exactly what happened.) And it was snowing in Vegas - what?!
Anyways, we landed & got off the plane to stretch our legs for the hour before the plane took off again for SF. Not even 10 minutes after getting off the plane, and a flight attendant comes over the loudspeaker saying that all of the planes needed to be de-iced. In Vegas, they only have 1 de-icing plane & that they were running low on de-icer fluid. Our plane was 11th in line - fabulous!
L-o-n-g story short: We waited for over 1 hour to find out that we were stuck in Las Vegas. We waited for 2 hours for our luggage to come off the carousel. And then we waited for over 1 hour in 3 different lines to find out that we couldn't get a flight until Friday. We were stuck in Las Vegas for 2 nights.
So, we decided to make the best of it. We found an amazing deal at the Venetian on the Strip. This lavish hotel is designed to look like Venice, Italy. The first floor is the casino (of course, this is Vegas); the Grand Canal Shoppes takes up the entire 2nd floor; complete with the Grand Canal & authentic Italian gondolas, this shopping center includes fancy, high-end stores, restaurants & (our favorite) a bakery/coffee shop all set alongside the canal.
A perfect, unexpected, relaxing vacation.