christmas greetings

dear friends and family

this has been a very eventful year for the grover family!  there have been many, many ups and downs but overall, we have come out feeling overwhelmingly blessed!  Among other things, we added another little hooligan to our family and survived a whirlwind move from oregon to colorado!

eric enjoyed most of the year serving in young mens in the hazeldale ward in aloha, oregon.  he loved his calling and the boys and people he served with.  he also enjoyed tuesday night volleyball which he got some of the young men involved with and it was his stress reliever!  he worked for cargill animal nutrition until october and is now on the hunt for a new job.  he was recently called into the sunday school presidency of our new ward. he is the best dad and loves spending time with his kids!

janine's year was mostly consumed by another grueling pregnancy but came out with the most precious little baby...so worth it!  but glad it's over!  i've also enjoyed learning more about photography with my fancy new camera from last christmas as well as teaching piano and sewing and oh yes, running around after the hooligans (and loving being a mom)!

maryn (4 1/2) is our gorgeous little girl who is the perfect little momma.  she looks after her brothers so well and LOVES to hold the baby as much as possible (and sneaks in walking around the house with him when she can get away with it). she enjoyed doing ballet this year as well as preschool.  she learned to swim this summer which she is really proud of and is learning to play "i am a child of god " on the piano. she misses her friends in oregon and is enjoying playing with her auntie maiya. 

caleb (2 1/2) is just full of life.  he is the busiest boy and gives meaning to the phrase "frogs and snails and puppy dogs tails" because that's what he is made of.  he is the biggest tease and gets a real kick out of calling all of his aunts and uncles by the wrong names.  he loves sticks, climbing, jumping off of things, "skateboarding" with uncle bryn, and "helping" grandma jean with her draperies.  he fancies himself a handyman and is often found "fixing" things with tools.

joshua (2 1/2 months) joined our family in october.  he is the most beautiful little baby.  he is so happy and smiley and just soft and squishy!  we are really enjoying having him and especially being around so much family who make a fuss of him.

we are so enjoying this christmas time!  we have so much to be grateful for!  this year i have particularly enjoyed having this precious new baby boy.  i have thought a lot about mary and what it must have been like to stare into the newborn eyes of the king of kings knowing that gethsemane and calvary lay ahead.  but for a brief and sacred moment they cuddled together as a little family and felt a deep peace. this is my greatest wish for you this season...that you will put the worldly things aside and hold those who are most precious to you so close and feel the peace that only christ can bring into our lives!

merry christmas!

love, eric, janine, maryn, caleb, and joshie

auntie me

i am so excited that we just found out that my big brother is going to be a daddy which means that i am going to be an auntie for the first time in my own family!!!  i am SOOOO excited!  congratulations roy-d and jewel!  we are thrilled for you!

and as a little present, i made you this....(just in case you're wondering what your kid will look like) introducing....

Gilroy Hank Charsley

blessed

today was a very {special day} for us as eric finally got to bless our beautiful little joshie.  he gave him such a beautiful blessing. joshie has a strong but very gentle spirit about him.  he is a really happy baby and just goes with the flow.  we feel so blessed to have him in our lives.  we are so enjoying being with family who just adore these babies.

 

proud parents

with daddy

an adoring sister

the new me

well, here it is....

Photos courtesy of Maryn & Caleb.

what do you get?

what do you get when {uncle roy-d} gets an early christmas present?

 

a bunch of goons playing 'guitar hero' all day long.

what do you get when you let {eric} go out and play with the kids for a couple of hours?

a humunga-dunga

{hawaiian snow - "woman"}

we have had such a lovely thanksgiving with lots of family and friends.  we started out with our traditional volleyball match against the hammonds...which we won! hooray! then went home and emma dyed my hair some {crazy} dark color--which i love now...shocking at first though...you'll see when i get some pictures up. then we had a {scrumptious} thanksgiving dinner...followed by napping, gaming, and a ping-pong tournament. 

last night we went over to some friends for a fun dinner and looked out the window and it was a {blizzard} outside.  in the few hours we were there it snowed four inches!  we are definately not in oregon anymore! the kids were so thrilled and have loved playing in it today.

truly, a fabulous time. 

7 1/2 weeks old

well, i've had a few requests for some recent pics of joshie so i snapped a few today and thought i'd put them up so long.  our little boy is growing so beautifully!  he is so yummy!

in other news, we are now in colorado.  all of my siblings are here for thanksgiving and it is so fun to be all together.  i love being back in colorado!  it feels so peaceful.  the job search is going and we are also considering starting our own business so we'll see what happens. i'm excited to get my hair done tomorrow...i'm going brunette...pics to follow!

quick update

things are going well here. we are in dubois, idaho staying with eric's parents right now and looking around here and rexburg for jobs. the trip over here was an absolute whirlwind! i don't know what we would have done without eric's mom and grandma to help! they were truly heaven sent. the kids have done amazingly well with the whole thing...they handled our exhausting and long trip to idaho with hardly a peep. we are very blessed to have such easy-going children.

we spent last weekend with my siblings in rexburg and had a really fun time. it was great to forget the stresses that we have and enjoy some goofing around and just being together. we also got to go to the rexburg temple for the first time. it was beautiful and a very peaceful experience. thanks aury for watching our little hooligans!

this week we are just trying to tie up loose ends from moving and get this job search underway. i'm sure i will be putting some pics on soon. this baby is growing so fast...he is starting to get chubby little cheeks and thighs. i love a soft, squishy baby!

blind-sided

we are sorry to let you know that eric lost his job on friday.  this came as quite a blow to us and we are sad to say that we have decided to pack up and move closer to family to look for a new job.  we are packing up this week (eric's mom and gramma are with us) and we will leave for idaho by wednesday.  our plan is to stay there for a week or so and then move on to colorado.

despite everything, we feel a calmness about this whole thing.  we have been praying for a long time about eric's job and asking to be directed to what we should be doing and where we should be.  we feel like this is Heavenly Father helping us along or maybe kicking us out the door on to bigger and better things. 

we want all our oregon friends to know how sad we are to leave--especially so abruptly and without warning!  we have loved living here and have come to know some AMAZINGLY good people.  we truly appreciate the way that you have supported us and looked after us with all our family so far away!  we will miss you.

p.s.  if anyone has any boxes they are willing to part with, we would greatly appreciate it!

i feel pwitty!

my boy, caleb, is really into giving compliments.  especially when we get ready in the morning and all dressed up...and by "all dressed up", i mean i get out of my pajamas, splatter on a little lip gloss, and maybe some mascara.  anyway, we are looking forward to a much needed trip to the temple and so i got out the medela double breast pump and get myself all hooked up.  a few minutes into it i'm feeling a lot like bessy (moo!) but caleb walks into the room to check out what i am doing, and his face lights up with a sincere, "WOW, MOMMA.....PWITTY!"

so, not only did i walk away with 3oz. but also had a little chuckle to myself compliments of caleb.

the end.

photo shoot

this morning, i took advantage of having eric home and had him help me with this little photo shoot so that i could come up with something to put on a birth announcement.  its always nice to have eric around because he makes the kids laugh which is a whole lot more natural that their "cheese" smiles.  well, we got few cute pics...some made it onto the announcement and some did not so I'll share my favorites that didn't make it onto the announcement.

My boys...isn't this gorgeous!?  I'm not biased though.

dear grandma

it was so fun to meet you.  thanks for coming and helping my mom and dad. thanks also for saving the day when the battery died.  thanks for walking with me at two in the morning.  i'm going to miss our late night/early morning get-togethers. i love you and hope to see you again before too long!

Love you lots,

Joshie

fall harvest party

 

Nicolina and Paula invited us to their harvest fall party this afternoon and it was a lot of fun!  We showed up with the whole clan...my parents and sister are here from Colorado to meet our Joshie we enjoyed introducing them to some of our friends.  We had the kids paint their pumpkins instead of carving them as we didn't want them with knives in their little hands.

 

This is my little sister, Maiya, carving her pumpkin.

Even though he is not in focus, I just love the look that Caleb is giving Bree in this picture...like she just crawled out of a piece of cheese.

Ethan, our adorable little neighbor.

 

Maiya with her award-winning pumpkin and Caleb on the swing.

Playing in the big pile of leaves was a huge hit!  I wish I got better pictures but the lighting was really tricky as well as the wild action!

My beautiful mother.

And of course, little Joshua was really into all the action.

 

The judging of the pumpkins...Maiya got a prize for best clown pumpkin, Maryn, most colorful, and Caleb for the blackest pumpkin.  Well deserved.

hopelessly in love

joshua charsley grover

 

despite having great intentions for all the things that i would accomplish once i got home, i find myself time and time again in the rocking chair just starring into this angelic little face and before i know it, hours have passed by, nothing got done, and i am still love struck. although i think it is safe to say that every person in this house is. the kids can't get enough of him and right now it is a job to keep them from pulling him in opposite directions. they are both trying really hard to be good helpers and are quite overconfident in their babysitting abilities. i love the spirit that a sweet new baby brings into the home.  everything seems to slow down and unimportant things just fall into the background. so we are just soaking that up right now.

relaxed after the bath.

two willing helpers.

i have to say that i just love his crazy, messy hair.

baby g.

 

born oct 5, 2008 at 11:44pm  - 7 lbs. 2 oz. - 19 1/2 inches long

we are pleased to welcome to our family "baby g"...still no name but he really is cute.  he pulls some marvelous faces!  he looks a lot like Caleb did as a newborn so we are in for another handsome little bloke!

LABOR DETAILS

it was fast, fast, fast and really intense!  my water broke at home and we went immediately to the hospital and 2 1/2 hours after my contractions started, he was in my arms.  i barely got an epidural in time and it didn't have time to take proper hold and barely dented the contractions. i pushed for 5 minutes and it was over...hallelujah!

it was fun to watch the kiddos today come and fall in love with their little brother. they both felt instant ownership and had to check him out. Caleb had to poke and prod him all over.

 

Well, I think it would be selfish of me if I did not comment about the incredible woman that just brought this incredible miracle into this world.  Janine was amazing!  She has endured and literally stared death in the eye, and again made such a costly sacrifice to bring one of our Heavenly Father's dear little ones into our lives.  She is such an amazing example of longsuffering and enduring to the end!  After a long and very hard pregnancy, she made it through the contractions with 5 minutes of pushing, and into our arms welcomed this beautiful baby boy.  She was definitely a trooper!  She is the most amazing woman I know and I am so blessed to have the privilege to call her my wife and best friend.  I love you!  Eric