Covergirl

Amongst the many children at Micah's school, she was chosen to be the 'covergirl' on their new brochures.  We were surprised and honored... thought we would share her moment of fame. :) She has thrived at this school and we are so pleased with her progress while in their care.

hb.

Christmas "Letter"

The Beissinger Family......2009

A Year In Review


** updated blog address: www.beisfam.com **
previously http://beissinger.blogspot.com

In a day and age of wonderful, technological ways to share your lives with others, we decided to use this blog to post as a Christmas "Letter" to tell you about our year and how God has proven faithful to us through it all.

We spent our first Christmas, 2008, in Virginia and it was a real change from the winter wonderland of VT/NH.  Heather's sister joined us for this special day and used the trip as an opportunity to find a job locally for a planned move in January.  It was actually 69 degrees on Christmas and Micah got to ride her new Roadster Tricycle outside!!  That would never fly in the Northeast where you would have to wait for a least 6 months when the snow melted and the mud had firmed up. :)

Here are a couple more holiday pics...

In January we headed up north for a "post holiday" visit and it was great to see everyone.  The trips are always a whirlwind and there is never enough time to spend in each place.  We visited our NH neighbor friends, Micah's adored previous daycare providers, our NH church friends, Heather's family in VT and RI.  Here is a sampling of the many wonderful picture memories we were able to capture on that visit....

Our good friend Steph.

"Mr. John and Miss Betty"- the kids previous care providers.

 Our neighbors from NH.... Micah misses her buddy Raygan.

FAMILY VISITS:

Micah and cousin Kenzie

Jonah and cousin Keahn

The dynamic trio- Rachel, Keahn, and Makenzie :)

So fun!

Aunt Deb, Aunt Linda, and Heather.

Next stop RI - Aunt Darlene and Gene's house, where Nana, Grandpa Don, Keith, Adriana, Auntie Phyllis and Uncle Bob joined us for a nice dinner. :)

Aunt Helen was even able to stop by to say 'hi'.

 

The Hostess with the mostest.. Aunt Darlene!

We enjoyed some quality time with Heather's brother's family in MA too...

Pearce with adorable little Jared.

Adriana.

Vivi and Micah having their pancake breakfast at the kid's table.

Our last night before returning home to VA- storytime with uncle Keith. Awwwww...

In February Jonah turned 1 and joined the walking world.... see post with pics from the safari birthday party. Click on these links to see the archived posts.  He also had a minor surgery to fix his blocked tear ducts after a year of watery eyes.... he was so cute at the hospital in his little hospital gown :)

   

The remainder of the winter was filled with lots of colds, stomach bugs, pink eye, ear infections.....you name it, we had it.  We are still trying to figure it out because, aside from a cold here or there, we are usually pretty healthy.  We suspected it was related to it being our first winter in VA and having two kids in two separate daycare settings.  After 5 ear infections in a very shot time period of time, little man Jonah had tubes placed in his ears and has been infection free since!! Yay! After the many long, feverish, sleepless nights, we are VERY happy that the tubes have been so successful.

As spring rolled around we started out house search and in April 2009 we closed on a new house... we got a great deal in the current economy... a huge blessing!

We have been able to open our house to many family and friends over the past 8 months, click here to see a long post with many slide shows of who and when.  We also provide a meeting place for Pearce's weekly Bible study group.

Micah turned 4 in April and she had a Chik-Fil-A birthday party like many of her friends have had and she had a BLAST!  It was a Little Mermaid theme because Ariel is by far Micah's favorite princess. She loved the larger than life cow that they were able to interact with and playing in the playground area. :)

In June, we headed up to New England again for a short visit and to be part of our friends wedding.  Josh and Steph were married June 13th and Micah and I were blessed to be part of it.  I was the 'matron of honor' and Micah the 'flowergirl'.

Micah and the ringer bearer at the rehearsal.

The handsome couple: Josh and Steph Baker

...the sweetest couple you'll ever meet...

love you guys!

We enjoyed a southern 4th of July celebration in Harrisonburg with our friends, the Garcias' and Melanie.... a trip to the Children's Museum to make festive hats for the kids and paint their faces, homemade warm kettlecorn, a parade downtown, cookout, roasting marshmallows, sparklers....lots of fun!  The following weekend we enjoyed a visit from Heather's dad and grandparents for the weekend.  For pictures of these visits click here.

Later in July we made a trek out to the Virginia coastline with the kids for a little family weekend.  It was fun and the kids loved playing in the sand.  Micah had a great time frolicking in the water with her Papa and Jonah was not so sure about the water.  The waves were a little too big for him and when the water started rolling toward him he would start running away... maybe next year.  Jonah was covered in sand from head to toe... every square inch.  Both Micah and Jonah were happy to get back to the hotel each day and get a bath.

Micah and Jonah

Hot little guy....

Tired too....

Water fun with Papa.

Christmas in July :)

Out in the evening to enjoy the street entertainment.

Breakdancing... the show was so much fun to watch.

Jonah loved it!

We also took a little break from the heat and enjoyed Virginia Aquarium which the kids LOVED!

Attempting to pet a stingray...

New definition of 'fish kisses'...

The last evening there, Micah and Mama went on a shell hunting date...

Micah's first encounter with a real live jellyfish.

On the way home... all the heat, sun, and fun wore everyone out!

In August, Heather attempted to get this blog up and running again and posted an 'update'. We are hoping to keep up this blog more but life is so busy, so check back periodically and every so often you'll see some new information/pictures about us.  :)  We would like to use this as a tool to keep in touch since we live far from most of our family.  Pearce also started his own personal blog which can be found at www.pearcebeis.com where you can read and see what is going on in his world.

Also in August, after some rigorous training and preparation, Pearce hiked Mount Shasta (14,179 feet). Along with him on the trip were some old mountain buddies from New Hampshire as well as new found friends from Virginia.  It was an arduous adventure, but a great training opportunity for his future endeavors.

Mount Shasta

  

Pearce... in his element.

Tim and Pearce... long time hiking buddies and great friends.

Pearce and Jay... a 'new' Virginia friend.

God's creation...seriously beautiful.

On Labor Day, Pearce and Heather were both off from work so we went on a family adventure to a local indoor waterpark... Massanutten WaterPark. It took Micah and Jonah a while to get comfortable with the life jackets and the splashing water but by the end they did not want to leave!  We look forward to doing this again as they get older as it is local and FUN!

A view of the park from the lobby....WOW!

The Lazy River.

The kiddie Froggie Slide.

Jonah was not so sure.

Best buddies.

Fall in Virginia was beautiful this year.  Our new neighborhood has many mature maple trees that were so vivid in full fall colors.  The kids enjoyed a fall Chili festival on Halloween where Micah dressed like Ariel Princess and Jonah like the little monkey that he is. :)

Princess Ariel Micah, Auntie Melanie, and Jonah.

Monkey Man Jonah... on the go (he does not pose much).

We also enjoyed a fall weekend in West Virginia with Joaquin and Lisa and their crew!

In November, we flew to Florida with the kids to visit Pearce's family and Heather's parents.  It was too short but good times were had by all.  The flight back was cancelled and we spent 7 hours in the airport waiting for the flight we were switched to.  The kids did great thanks to a kiddie play area close to our gate and the DVD player.... Jonah even took a little nap since we had been up since 2a.m.!!

Micah with Pearce's dad, "Doc".

Micah with Uncle Ryan (Pearce's brother).

High Five Ama!

Ama (Pearce's Grandmother) and Jonah.

Apa (Pearce's Grandfather) and Micah.

Jonah...taking it all in.

Chris and Stephen with Pearce, Micah, and Jonah.

Group shot with dear Ama and Apa.

Another group shot with Pearce's dad, step-grandfather Tommy, Ama, and Apa! :)

NEXT we traveled south a little further to visit Heather's parents in their new house!

Micah and her Grandpa (Heather's dad).

Sunset! Beautiful!

Heather with Jonah and her parents.

Getting ready to go out on the boat.

Jonah, looking especially adorable in his Spider Man life jacket... thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

Grandma and Micah... in her Cinderella life jacket! :)

Who's driving this boat?!?

Micah and Papa at a restaurant that we drove up to with the boat!

Early this month (December) we had a 5 inch "snowstorm" and the kids had a blast playing in the snow. Chloe was loving it as well... just galloping and pouncing around like a frisky puppy! :)  We went sledding right next to our house and built a snowman.

The snow put us in the Christmas mood triggering cookie backing, tree decorating, and MORE!

Micah came home with a surprise from school last week... she has passed all the preschool reading books and will be moving up to the kindergarten curriculum!!!  She is such a good little reader...she just loves reading anything she can... books, signs as we drive around, labels on food containers, etc.  It is fun to see what she comes out with.  She also just sprouted up and outgrew many clothes.  When we look at her we are in awe with how BIG she is... it seems like just yesterday she was a tiny 6 lb. little bundle!

The LAST 'Little Owl Book'!!!!

Yay Micah!!

She was not to keen on soccer this year... maybe because she was in an age 4-6 co-ed group and some of the 6 year olds, especially the more athletic boys, were a bit overwhelming... a little scary.  We got through the season and her backyard skills with Papa (where she is comfortable) are kickin'!!

Heather was the "Assistant Coach"

Micah on a Papa "date"... camping out in the basement with a real tent, Little Mermaid Movie, ice cream, and popcorn... doesn't get much better than that!

Jonah is talking a TON and putting together 3-5 word sentences much to our amazement.  He talks constantly actually.  Part of the reason why he knows so many words is that he asks, "What's that?" about every 2 minutes. :)  He is still so loving and still adores his sister asking "Where Micah go?" if she is out of sight.  He loves dancing, singing, playing with his cars, coloring, and reading with us.  He is so much fun and learning anything and everything at a shocking rate!

Watching Saturday morning cartoons together. 

All by themselves, they set the coffee table for a "meal"....

we love to see them playing together. :)

Too cute!

Father and son.

Pearce has been working many hours since August due to some staffing issues but this should be returning to a more "normal" schedule in the near future.  He has stepped up his workout schedule with a plan to hike Mt. McKinley (Denali) in Alaska in May 2010.  Pearce has also gotten more involved with the Appalachian Center for Wilderness Medicine and was elected to be on the Board of Directors after he did some teaching at a conference in September.  He also was granted a position at James Madison University as a Clinical Adjunct/Associate Professor to teach at the Physician Assistant program there.  He taught on various heart and vascular related topics on a couple occasions over the past month.

Heather has worked out a four day work week with her job and now has Wednesdays off, which is a huge blessing! She continues to grow in her walk with God through her role as a small group co-leader at our church, Aletheia (which is greek for "truth"). The kids keep her on her toes as it is a full time job training them and keeping all their needs met.... a job she wouldn't trade for anything! 

We miss all our family and friends and pray that you have a wonderful Christmas and that 2010 will hold   a journey that is full of life and exceeds your expectations.  

Check back periodically here to see what is up with us or 'subscribe' to our blog by email (see column on right) to receive emails when new posts are published. :)  Look forward to hearing from you all!

THAT'S US!!!

We wish you ALL Health and Happiness in 2010!!