Sledding

We had a substantial enough snow fall to take out the sleds this morning!  The kids got as bundled as they could and we headed over to the church for a couple hours of fun. 

The cousins left a few days later so it was great that we could have this chance to play in the snow before they returned to California.

 

Christmas with the Eriksens

I can't remember the last time I got to celebrate Christmas with my sister Laurel, and never before with her kids!  It was a lot of fun despite the circumstances that brought us together.  Christmas morning, the kids opened their stocking gifts from Santa.  We were blessed with a white Christmas morning and the kids got to play in the snow, have a snow ball fight and even build some (very small) snowmen.  Daddy would have loved it. Christmas was his favorite time of year and these little people were his greatest joys in this life.

 

We had a birthday cake for Jesus and all sung Happy Birthday.

 

Christmas for the household was the following day.  Lars's company arranged for all of Luke and Leah's Christmas presents to be shipped to my parents' house so there was quite a mountain of presents for everyone to open. 



Mom got this huge, beautiful, tiger for Abby and I think it was worth every penny! She loves it.

More Family Time - Meg's Family

Meg and Jonathan visit about once or twice a year from St. Louis and we had all been very excited that they would be home for a long week over Christmas this year.  Sadly, events as they were altered the amount of time we had planned on spending with them.  Rather than seeing each other nearly every day, we got together maybe six or seven times.  We all went to a lovely dinner for a pre-birthday party for Beth one night. Another night, we had them at our place for the kids to play. Abigail and Judah were adorable together, hitting it off right away.

 

 We stopped by as often as it was fitting, and the little ones were drawn to each other every time.

 

Little Judah - poor little guy had an ear infection but he was still as sweet as can be, and super cute!

 Christmas day was a Marquiss event!  The dinner was wonderful (thank you Uncle Ron for smoking all that ham and turkey!), and the atmosphere was filled with joy and love.  The kids had fun opening and playing with mounds of toys, and spending time looking at new books.

Grammy was in heaven having all her Grandbabies in one place!

Christmas Picture Attempt

Last year I got such sweet pictures of the kids in their Christmas clothes. I hoped for a repeat but it seems that catching the two of them still and looking at the camera, is next to impossible! They are pretty stinking cute though.

 

Christmas Candy Lane

We had a short window of time to get all the kids together for a fun outing before Sharon and Mark had to leave, so the day after the funeral, we took them to Hershey Park.  Dad always liked to take us - he loved Christmas, Christmas lights, Christmas everything, so it seemed fitting.  It also helped greatly that Mom's neighbor works for Hershey and gave us some tickets to help with the cost!  Just as I remembered it from our past, it was freezing!  The kids didn't seem to mind very much though, they had a wonderful time together riding the rides and drinking hot chocolate.

Dinner at Red Robin - was a disaster. Why do they take so long to bring food to people with little kids! Don't they know they have a sitting and waiting threshold of approximately 15 minutes?

Poor little Abby, I thought I had her snow suit but it didn't make it into the car so she wore whatever we could find.
She didn't last very long so Kat left after about an hour and sat in the car for the rest of the night while Abby slept.

 



The Funeral

Today we had to go through with the funeral. We started the day out at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery for the interment (beautiful service but freezing). Dad's instructions upon his death were to, and I quote, "burn me up cheap and put me at the Gap." He was laid to rest with a full, military-honoring ceremony including a flag ceremony, words from the pastor, three volleys gun salute, and taps. It was a very special ceremony--worthy of my Dad. His remains are buried there in a columbaria. In the evening we filled the church with friends, family, and coworkers, for a touching service including some great picture montages, heart-felt words from family and friends, and the message of Christ's life saving Gospel. We tried to keep it short and concise so he wouldn't get bored watching from heaven. After the service we had a huge dinner at the church for everyone to visit and share memories of the wonderful mad who is my father.

The site of the interment.

Pastor Phil read the obituary and gave a lovely message.

Playing Taps after the three gun salute and the flag ceremony.

Thank you to all these men and women who have served our country.

The kids at lunch between services.



Intentional Fun

Laurel and Sharon changed their return tickets to stay through the funeral (at least), and Lars came out with Luke.  Our family stayed at Mom's most of the time too so we could all be together in these first crappy days after Dad's death.  Having to entertain a house full of kids was a good thing for us.  It helped us get out and have some intentional fun.  Mom's grief counselor suggested at least one fun activity a day to help us remember the joys in life.  These kids are a joy! They kept us super busy too which was great.  These are Tuesday and Wednesday's activities.

 

At Paulus Farms in their Christmas tent.

Abby loved this rocking horse! Just her size.

Leah and the worlds' sweetest little donkey!

The kids playing at Monkey Joes.

Farewell Daddy

In Memory of Richard H. Stallings, III

My dad died today. We were all there and got to say goodbye one last time.  It didn't help though, the sorrow is a physical pain the likes of which I have never before experienced. I love him so much. He was truly a wonderful, God-loving, father, grandpop, husband, man. The world's loss, but I know that he is in heaven today and I will see him again one day soon.

Richard Holliday Stallings, III, of Mechanicsburg, passed away at the age of 64 on Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at Holy Spirit Hospital. Born June 5, 1948 in Camden, NJ, he was a son of the late Richard H. Stallings, Jr. and Marie Nanette (Mathews) Stallings.

Rich was in the U.S. Army Artillery as a commissioned officer, discharged honorably having just been approved for promotion to the rank of Major. He served in Germany during the Vietnam War, was a battery commander at Ft. Sill, OK where his first two daughters were born, served with NATO in Greece for a year, then served as an ROTC instructor at the University of Akron where he earned his MBA and his third daughter was born.

Following his years of military service, he became a manager with Roadway Trucking Company where he worked for 18 years. For the past eight years he has been a Plan Representative for Great-West Retirement Services explaining retirement benefits to state workers in the greater Harrisburg area.

Rich was a self-taught gourmet chef; studying under Julia Child, Mario Batali, Jacques Pepin, and other great chefs through books, magazines, and cooking shows. He loved to prepare creative meals for family and friends. His daughters called Dad with all their cooking questions.

Rich was a faithful servant at West Shore Evangelical Free Church in Mechanicsburg, helping to lead a fellowship group on Sunday morning, a small-group Bible study on Sunday evening, and a men's small group that met in homes a couple times a month. He was a student of Scripture.

His greatest delight in life was his family. Surviving is his loving wife of 40 years, Susan Faye (Mitchell) Stallings and his daughters, Laurel Susan Eriksen and husband Lars of Rancho Cucamonga, CA, Sharon Marie Vigoroso and husband Mark of Marietta, GA, and Kathryn Gail Marquiss and husband Jason of Mt. Holly Springs; his brother, Robert Stallings and wife Janis of Collingswood, NJ and his step-mother, Julia Stallings of Cocoa Beach, FL. He adored and loved spending time with his seven grandchildren, Luke and Leah Eriksen, Carmella, Leo, and Siena Vigoroso, and Daniel and Abigail Marquiss.

Interment with military honors will take place at 10:00 AM Friday, December 21, 2012 at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery.

A memorial service will be held at 4:00 PM Friday, December 21, 2012 at West Shore Evangelical Free Church, 1345 Williams Grove Road, Mechanicsburg.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made for global relief by sending donations to West Shore Evangelical Free Church (WSEFC), 1345 Williams Grove Road, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055.

Christmas South Middleton Style

Kat's dad had a heart event Thursday and is in the cardiac ICU in an induced coma and in a cooled state to encourage healing.  His heart stopped at the breakfast table and although he had CPR within a couple minutes, he hasn't regained consciousness.  We hope he'll wake up today or tomorrow and then the doctors can determine what damage might have been done
. 
In the mean time, I had signed up the kids for the township Christmas party and thought that would be a good excuse to get out and try to have some fun. The party was at the fire station so most of the time was spent climbing in and out of the trucks and trying on the fireman's gear.  Even Abby got in on it this time. We even managed to get the kids a bit closer to Santa Claus for a photo op!

 

Now that Abby is getting so big, she and Daniel are playing together more and more. 

Here are some cute pictures from this week.