Scared

Violet and I checked out a neighbor's garage sale this morning. She got a pair of dress up shoes and a new baby doll to take care of. She also saw a lion mask and wanted to take it home. So...when we walked inside the house, she put on her lion mask and ran up to Calvin with the loudest roar she could muster. Calvin was sitting in Dave's lap at the time, and his little body shook so bad and he started screaming bloody murder. Poor kid was terrified. I took the lion mask away from her so she couldn't do that again. Maybe she can play with it when Calvin is napping from now on. I'm getting ready for camp today. We have to pack sheets and towels for the whole family plus everything else. I sure hope we don't forget something.

Tired Wednesday

That's what I feel like today. I woke up feeling poorly rested, my eyes still throbbing and pounding before the day had begun, and I had a bad dream that I couldn't shake from my memory. In my dream I saw a large tornado heading for our house, so what do I do? Grab the camera and take a picture of it. I don't remember anything else, but it felt so real that it seemed like I could go down stairs to look at the pics on my camera and see the one I took in my dream. The morning did not start well, either. Violet consistently wakes up around 7 am (which is way before I'd like to get up) and comes into our room and says to me that Calvin is screaming. He really was, too. Ugh. So many people say to me (who are older and have older kids) that my stage of life is the best having little kids running around. And that I'll always want this time back. I'm just not getting it. By most day's end, I'm ready to tape Violet's mouth shut (not literally guys, but I know you know what I mean) from her constant jabber, questions, and comments. She drives me nuts some days. She's a terrible back seat driver, too. She says "Mom, its green, you can go. Slow down! Don't hit that car! Mom, watch out, its yellow, its turning red, you have to stop. Oh! Its green, mom! Go faster! You're not driving fast enough..."and on and on and on ~ its a never ending dialogue in the car. Can we say Type A first born child personality? Shawn and Kim came over last night for the last visit we get with them before Christmas. Violet was SO excited to see them (especially Shawn). Something about Shawn she just loves. She wanted to sit by him the whole night, ask him a million questions, and sit by him at dinner. She just LIT UP like a little shining star. I couldn't believe it. It was like a different Violet. She was charming, delightful, sweet, thoughtful, and didn't whine once. Gives them the impression she's an angel child. But the MOMENT they left and she had to go to bed, she started whining and screaming again. I realize this post might sound a bit negative. I don't feel like this all the time, but some times. I know all moms have moments like this. I'm a little drained because I'm writing this at the end of a long busy day of driving around running a bunch of errands and having to break up many fights through out the day. One day my kids will get along, right? Right? Calvin had his 18 mo check up this morning. The scale said he was 26 lbs 4 oz, so maybe my bathroom scale is little off. Or its possible he devoured a big meal before I weighed him. He is in the 50th % for weight and 75th % for height. The doc said his growth curve is perfect for all areas of growth (height, weight, head) looks great, and he is doing what he should be doing. He said "hi!" to the doc and "bye!" when she left. She thought that was very sweet. Before Calvin's dr appointment we were in the waiting area. Calvin walked up to an elderly man sitting in a chair reading a magazine. I could tell the man was delighted Calvin came up to him. He started talking to Calvin, saying "oh! You want to see the cars in the magazine?" and Calvin responds by saying "yeah". So Calvin starts flipping the magazine pages over, and the man is just so happy to interact with him. They had a "conversation". He gave him a high five and when the man's name was called, Calvin told him "bye!" I didn't bring Violet with me to Calvin's appointment because he had to get one last vaccination, and I didn't want her to see him cry and be upset. And of course, he did, but he was over it quick. He is always quickly calmed down by his paci and blanket. I guess its called a pacifier for a reason. Violet stayed home and watched Sesame Street downstairs while Dave worked in his office. I hope she didn't bother him too much. We're leaving for "family camp" on Saturday morning really early. It is at the camp known as Turkey Hill in Missouri. We're going to be gone August 1-7. We don't really know what to expect because it is our first time. Violet's friend Katie will be there, and she's really excited about that. I hope the sleeping arrangements allow us to get some decent sleep as a family. The camp is off the main road so much that its in a dead zone with no cell reception.

I knew he was getting heavy

But I did not expect 27 pounds. That is what the scale read yesterday when I weighed Calvin. I weighed him twice and the reading came to 27 pounds each time. I knew he was growing, but the last time I weighed him he was 23 pounds. He's gained 4 pounds in the last 6 months. Maybe I'm off, but that seems like a lot to me. He's really getting taller and growing into his "little boy toddler" look, and his legs are much less bowed than they used to be. I've gotten comments from people saying they can tell he's gone through a growth spurt! The kid even has more hair on his head - he doesn't look so much like a bald kid anymore.

Thankful spirit

Violet seems to have a thankful spirit (uhh...sometimes...not always). When I showed her all the new things she got yesterday (new pajamas, new shoes, new dresses) she said "thank you so very much mom!" and this morning when she woke up, she looked at the pajamas that she was wearing and said "I really, really, really love my new jajamas, they're really, really cute, I love them!"

Garage Salin'

I had a fun day yesterday and today scoping out some garage sales in Cedar Falls. This was the first time I actually looked up a bunch of them in the newspaper, figured out which ones I wanted to go to, and made myself a map of where they all are and what times they started. I asked Dave to be with the kids this morning at 8 am so I could shop by myself. Practically brand new items (nice pants, shirts, overalls, shoes and sandals) for super cheap prices. I went to 6 garage sales this morning and found great items for both kids. My favorite finds were: 1. Leap Frog Phonics train - everything was in the box, it works, and looks brand new $15 2. A Gap fleece/knit sweater/coat for Violet - 50 cents 3. A pair of black Nike sandals for Calvin that are stretchy and fit his fat feet - 50 cents 4. Countless pairs of pants for Calvin in many sizes in near perfect condition - 50 cents each 5. Another toy stroller for Calvin to push - maybe that will eliminate some fighting over the one pink one we have - $5 6. A Land's End purple dress for V that looks brand new - $5 7. A shopping cart the kids can push around (push things are hot with my kids right now) - $1.50 8. A new Eddie Bauer smaller sized diaper bag - 50 cents The list goes on, but those were my favs.

Conversations with Calvin

Violet has established a regular and consistent way to communicate with Calvin. She knows to always ask him yes/no questions, and she knows he'll always say "yeah". But if she asks him where his pacifier is, he'll put his hands up and shrug his shoulders, and say a form of "I don't know" that I don't know how to type. Its like "I-duh-hah-dah" or something like that. Tonight when I was putting him to bed, he was rocking with me, and took his paci out of his mouth and threw it on the floor. I don't have a clue where it went. He got down and searched around for it, eventually ending up on his tummy. From his perspective, he could see more than me. He suddenly said "Hee-ih-ih!" for "here it is!" and sure enough, he found a paci under his crib. It wasn't the same one he dropped, but nonetheless, he still found one and announced that he found it. He's too cute. He is still terrified of loud trucks outside. If he hears a CFU truck, a garbage truck, a lawn care truck, or any type of loud thing on the street he freaks out and screams for me to pick him up. He is still really interested in what is going on though, so I have to hold him so he can see what is driving by. As whatever it is passes by, he enthusiastically waves bye bye and says "bye bye dah-dah!" That is always what he says when he is saying goodbye to something...it always has "dah-dah" on the end. I know he knows it isn't daddy he is saying goodbye to, but I think he's programmed to say "bye bye daddy" because every morning after we all have breakfast, Dave goes downstairs to his office, and as the door closes and he walks down the steps, him and Violet have a yelling contest to see who can say bye bye the loudest. She is yelling "bye bye daddy!" at the top of her lungs and he just joins right in with the yelling. I might as well record them now, since I'm thinking about it. Things Calvin can say: Hi Bye bye daddy mom momma Ah-dah (all done) Uh oh Mah (milk or more, I can never tell the difference) I don't know (but this is in his babble form) Hee-ih-ih (here it is) I loh-ooh (I love you, only said when I say it to him) dah (dog) wuh-wuh (woof woof) nana (banana)

Grandma Butler's 90th Birthday party

We drove to MN this past weekend to celebrate Florence Butler's 90th birthday. Dave and I drove up there on Thursday night really late. We intended on leaving our house later than we had planned, but packing up with kids always takes longer than I anticipate. We ended up leaving our house at 8 pm. I drove the first three hours of the trip and Dave worked a little on his computer. We knew the drive would be 4 hours at least...so we were somewhat prepared for how the trip would go. We thought the kids were going to fall asleep around 9 or so...but nooo...Violet was so talkative, she kept Calvin awake. They eventually konked out around 10:30 pm. Dave drove for the last hour of the trip because he is really familiar with the roads up there. We stayed the night with Aaron and Christina. When we transported the kids from the van to their beds, thankfully, they were happy to go to bed. Calvin fell asleep right away in a pack and play crib that Christina set up for him, and Violet told me she was happy to be cozy in a bed sleeping. It was a chilly night - close to 50 degrees. We always pack a fan with us when we travel because the kids like to sleep with them on for white noise. As soon as the fan turned on in that room, she was asleep. We were fortunate to not have to stop at all during the trip up there. Dave and I slept on an air mattress in their basement living room area. The whole reason we went up there on Thursday night was because Carrie Rowe was planning on hosting everybody in the family for lunch on Friday. Dave had a little work to complete before the weekend arrived, so he worked a little on Fri morning. Christina made us a yummy blueberry coffeecake and sausage patties for breakfast, that was so sweet of her. Our kids woke up on Friday morning pretty cheerful, so that was a blessing considering how little sleep they were running on. Lunch at Carrie Rowe's house was really nice. She grilled some steaks for the adults and served hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, chips, and chocolate cupcakes for the kids. We knew lunch would be short, since the kids had to nap. And the weather was terrible! It was so cold, windy, and kept drizzing rain. Calvin didn't make it to lunch. He fell asleep early at Aaron and Christina's house so he took a nap while everybody else had lunch. Sean and family were at lunch, Josh and Carrie and family were there, Martha, Jeff, and Dave and I and Violet. Carrie did a great job hosting everybody. Once lunch was over, Dave stayed back at Carrie's house with some family to help with some things, and I took V back to A&C's house for a nap. She slept on our air mattress (I had to find another fan for her, since Calvin was using the one we brought in another room). Once I found a fan, she knocked out. We moved all our stuff from A&C's house over to Phil and Jenny's house. Phil and Jenny live next door to A&C - and they were out of town for the weekend at their family's reunion and told us we could stay at their house. Sean and family were also staying there - they took over the basement. It was a fantastic set up though, we were SO happy to be staying there instead of staying at the hotel where everybody else was. For a number of reasons: 1. Violet had her own room. 2. Calvin slept in his own space behind doors (in P&J's closet), and 3. Dave and I had our own bed and bathroom to ourselves. So nice! Originally we thought to spend the rest of Friday at a park so the kids could all play and we could grill out or something, but it was just TOO cold to do anything outside. It is JULY, and we were too cold! The weather was crazy weird for that time of year. It was windy, cold, drizzly wet, and just not pleasant. We all planned instead to spend the rest of the evening at P&J's house and all split the cost of ordering a bunch of pizzas for dinner. That turned out to be a good plan...everybody was happy to hang out there. Kyle, Brad, Kala, Sheri & Chad, Victoria, Hannah, and Andy & Sara and new baby Evelyn all joined us. The rest of the family were all staying at the Holiday Inn close by - the one with the enormous water park in it. We got up on Sat morning and ate breakfast really fast, and took off for the water park, knowing the kids would thorougly enjoy themselves. Tim and Deb hooked us up with water park passes and we let the kids splash and play all morning. They absolutely loved it. The area for little toddlers only got a foot or so deep with a zero depth entry. Violet loved running up the ramp and going down the slide all by herself. She was screaming with excitement every time she got to do it again, I think she went down the slide about 50 times. It was relatively big for a little kid. It had shooting water down the slide so they would go fast and turned a couple times. She seemed to not be too bothered by the water in her eyes. One time she stood underneath a bucket that periodically filled up and dumped out - she soaked her head - and got over it ok. Calvin was uneasy about the water to start with, and for about an hour, I held him all wrapped up in towels. He soon got brave, and started splashing and crawling through the water having tons of fun. Kala swam with each kid for awhile. Soon they got really hungry, so we got some hot dogs at the snack bar near by and fed them lunch and put them down for naps in Tim and Deb's hotel room. They slept for 2 1/2 hours each. The party for grandma Butler was at 2 pm at a park 15 miles or so away. Not so convenient of a time for the kiddos...but such is life with little kids. I stayed back at the hotel (and talked with Carrie L. since her kids were taking naps, too) while they slept, and then drove to the park when they woke up. Jeff's girlfriend baked a beautifully decorated cake and he cooked a fabulous pulled pork sandwich meal. Since I was late bringing the kids to the party, I didn't get to eat with everybody, but I still had some of the yummy cake. Deb took a bunch of family pictures with Grandma Butler, and the kids spent some time on the playground. We had some time to kill for the rest of the evening, so we decided to take everybody back to the water park at the hotel. This time I grabbed by swim suit on the way back and got in the water. Dave took the kids for awhile and Kala and I got a chance to go on the water slides. They were so cool! We had to climb up about 4 stories to start, then had three choices of slides to go on. I got slightly injured on one of them - Dave and I were on a double innertube and I ended up going backwards. The side of my lower back smashed into a solid part of a slide - its hard to explain - but its bruised! Sunday morning we spent at Trott Brook. The family gathered for lunch at Old Country Buffet, then we went back to P&J's to clean up and pack. We left at 3 pm - later than we wanted (of course, haha), but that is OK. Both kids fell asleep almost immediately once we got in the car, and I think Violet slept all but 30 minutes of the drive. She was SO tired. Calvin woke up before she did in the car, and he was getting irritated that Violet was sleeping. He could see her head bob side to side against her car seat head rest, and if he thought she was waking up, he would happily say "hi!" to her. But she'd stay asleep, and he would cry, it was really cute. Once she woke up, he was SO happy to see her interact with him. They got all giggly when Dave would drive the van to the side of the road and her the loud bumps that alert a sleepy driver. They screamed in laughter, they both thought the sudden loudness of the sound was so funny. Again, we didn't stop on that car ride. I was surprised we didn't have to stop. We got home somewhere around 7:30 and gave the kids a bath and got them back in bed. Yet another weekend where I will remember our children. Violet was a little happy social butterfly, acting goofy with her cousins and loving all the time to play. She was happy to see baby Evie, very happy to see her favorite cousins Emily and Alyssa and Austin and Renee, she called Brad a sticky lollipop, went down the slide all by herself at the water park, and spent some time on Sunday "reading" tons of books with her cousin Lynnea on the couch. Calvin became famous for lugging his blankie and paci around with him while sporting his Linus with blue blankie shirt. Its Tuesday already and I'm feeling back to normal. Laundry is done and put away, and I went grocery shopping and already have a dinner plan. Grilling cheeseburger and having macaroni salad with cucumbers on the side.

Yeahhh

This is Calvin's favorite thing to say. He answers every question with "Yeahhhh". Violet loves to be "conversational" with him. She asks him "Calvin, can I climb on the chair?" fully expecting him to say "yeahhh", and of course, he does. So she thinks its comical to ask him everything under the sun. In the car today, she said "Calvin, can I say hi to all the cars outside?" He says "yeahhh", so she says "hi cars!" ...and so on and so forth...its quite funny to hear what she comes up with.

Violet's fun day

I am up, showered and ready for the day and its only 7:30 am. This rarely happens, but I like it. Maybe I should make a habit of this. Calvin was up at 6:30 this morning screaming like crazy. Dave scrambled to find a pacifier and got him to go back to sleep (thank you Dave!!!). I need to buy more pacifiers. I can only find one around here. I used to have four we rotated through, but I think with all the traveling we have been doing lately, I think we lose one for every trip we take. Yesterday was a very eventful day for Violet. A couple older girls from BBC organized a fun princess party for the little girls Violet's age. They gave her an invitation and everything. It was yesterday from 10-11:30 am. She dressed up in her pink princess outfit that Aunt Rachel gave her and seemed VERY excited to go. When we got there she wanted me to stay and she gave me lots of kisses and hugs, but once I left I know she warmed up to everyone, it just takes her awhile. From what she told me, they blew bubbles, had a tea party (with juice), had a story read to them, got their nails painted, and ate gummy bears. When we came back to pick them up, Violet was excited to see me, and was playing outside on a tire swing. We made plans to go out to lunch with our friends and the girls were all giddy and crazy, I am not sure I've seen them all like that before. The girls each left the party with a pink heart shaped balloon. After lunch, Violet's friend's balloon accidentally got free from their van because the wind took over quicker than it could be grabbed. Violet was reaaaaaally concerned about Ivy and her balloon. She didn't stop talking about it the rest of the day. She said she wanted to go back to Alex's house and get her a new balloon, then she said she wanted to go to the store and get a new balloon for Ivy. She looked for it a few times out the window. And last night before she went to bed, she prayed for Ivy that she wouldn't be sad about losing her balloon. While the older girls were at their princess party, Selena and I went to the crossroads mall so she could get her youngest daughter's pictures taken, and I occupied the boys (Evan and Calvin). We carpooled in her van - Calvin sat in Ivy's car seat and Evan was very excited to see Calvin. They played around for 45 minutes in the mall's kid play area. They had a blast - running and laughing everywhere, playing peek a boo, going down the slide every which way, and oohing and aahing over the horsies going around and around on the merry go round. At one point Evan was laying on the ground (relaxing, I suppose, ha!) and Calvin ran over to him, sat right on his tummy and jumped up and landed on Evan hard. It caused Evan to burst into a ball of laughter...those two boys had me laughing. She and Calvin took a good nap that afternoon. Violet also got to go to a "summer fun" program at Heartland Vineyard Tuesday evening and last night. Its like their version of VBS - from 6-8 pm at night. A friend from MOPS told me about it, and I knew she'd have fun, so I took her. Initially she was sad (of course, and wanted me to stay) but when I picked her up both nights, she was a bundle of fun and couldn't stop telling me about all the things they did. The first night on Tuesday she came back with chocolate pudding all over her clothes and skin (they told me they could get dirty!) because they had finger painted with pudding. Wednesday night they got to throw water balloons. She won't get to go the rest of this week because we'll be out of town for Dave's grandma's 90th birthday party. Many of his family are gathering in MN for the event. We're planning on staying at Phil and Jenny Johnson's house for the weekend.

Memorable

Dave and I enjoy taking trips that require some time in the car, because it allows us to actually have time to talk (if our attention isn't being demanded by a kid, that is). Dave came to the conclusion that taking trips with our kids (even though it can be hard and draining) is a really good thing to do for a number of reasons: 1. It helps us appreciate the fact that we all have our own bedrooms to sleep in at home. 2. It gets us out of our food ruts. We end up eating different things on trips and I find new things the kids like to eat. Violet ate sausage patties like they were candy every morning last weekend. I didn't know she liked those. 3. We remember the kids. Silly to say, but getting our whole family OUT of our "regular family life and routine" at home all the time helps us to make a memorable mark on what the kids were like at their ages during that trip. I remember when Violet was 1 month old when we made a road trip to a friend's wedding. I remember her when she was 6 months old at Fair Hills three years ago when my mom's family took a vacation. She was still a nursing baby, couldn't crawl yet, and I remember that week of how she was more than the first 6 months of her life. Dave and I often refer to how they were "on such and such a trip" and what things they loved or didn't like on that particular trip. Calvin will be remembered on this trip for saying "hi" to everyone he laid eyes on and "bye bye xxxx" all the time...whether it was a person walking away from him or a car driving down the street. 4. They connect with family we don't see often. Violet and my Aunt Ruth had a blast singing and dancing together, I think she will remember that time for a long time and recall that time the next time we see each other. She also really knows her great grandparents Loren and Rowena. 5. I realize how excellent Violet's memory is. We hadn't been to my grandparent's house in exactly a year. We went to visit them 3 weeks after the flood destroyed our river house in 2008. At that time, my grandma got out a bowl of brightly colored beads and helped Violet string them on. When we got to her place last weekend, she said "Grandma Rowena, where are the beads?" all on her own. She remembered that from a year ago with no mention of them for 12 months. I even struggled to remember what she was talking about until she mentioned them more, and then I realized that is what they did a year ago. Calvin also crawled for the first time at their place a year ago. He was a challenge this year, now at 18 months. He wanted to grab and throw everything he got his hands on. I had to be after him every moment so he wouldn't destroy something. I hope he'll be better next time.

Hardinger get together - Rathbun Lake

We returned from a family-oriented weekend today. My grandparents planned a family "reunion", but not there wasn't a complete showing of all family members. Those who had the weekend open made the trip. Loren and Rowena, Uncle Dave, Aunt Ruth, Dave and I (& kids), and my parents. Jay and Molly made an appearance on Saturday night (they were at a good friend's wedding on Sat). We all stayed at Honey Creek Resort on Rathbun Lake (15 miles south of Albia, IA) on Friday through Sunday. Dave and I took off early on Friday morning and had lunch with my Hardinger grandparents in Albia. We were a little late leaving our house on Friday morning, however. A big thunderstorm rolled through early Friday morning around 3:45 am. We woke up to the loudest wind I have ever heard. Out the windows was thick gray, I couldn't see anything because the hail was so heavy. We each grabbed a kid and ran to the basement and let the storm blow over for about 30 minutes. The lighting and thunder was constant. We heard hail pound on the roof and smash our flowers to the ground. The wind peaked at around 60 mph we heard on the news the next day. When the sun came up and we could look at our yard, we found pieces of people's chimneys on our lawn, a piece of aluminum soffet about 10 feet long had ripped off our siding near the roofline of our bedroom and was banging against our house, the neighbor's tree was ripped out of the ground and fell, and most everybody's playhouses were smashed to the ground. Felt like a mini tornado came through, but it was just the fierce wind. Dave got up on the roof and made a quick fix with a hammer and some nails to the piece that ripped off our house. We called a pro to come fix it, but he didn't want to leave it hanging there. We also lost power for about an hour or two during the night when the storm was at its worst. The battery back up for our sump pump has a problem so we knew that could be a concern. Poor Dave was awake for a few hours during the night dealing with that issue. He could see the well in the basement filling up with water as we didn't have the power of the battery to make the pump work. He thought quick and grabbed the boat battery (which the night before we had JUST charged to full strength) and hooked that up to the system so it could pump. The last thing we needed was another flooded basement. Success! He got things working, the power came back on, and the pump did it job. Dave was really tired on Friday, though. Violet was so scared of the loud claps of thunder that she ended up sleeping in our bed most of the night. She was scared that her fan didn't work. I praise God that Calvin went right back to sleep after being ripped from dreamland when we brought them downstairs. I put him back in bed once the storm had calmed down and he slept through the rest of the night not having his fan on either. Both of our kids really like that hum of the fan to sleep. We ended up leaving town an hour and a half later than we wanted to. As we drove away from our house to the highway (we made a pit stop at Starbucks :) ), CFU trucks were up working hard to restore power to residential areas. Trees had been split in half, branches broken and fallen everywhere. We arrived in Albia in time for lunch at 1 pm, had a yummy lunch, and got the kids right to bed for their naps. We then left for the resort once they woke up. The resort on the lake was 15 miles of a drive from their house. We got checked in and spent the rest of the day chasing our kids around their indoor water park. There was a mini lazy river, a zero-entry kiddo pool with two slides, and another area with climbing things and a basketball net. Violet loved to float with her fishy intertube around the lazy river and go down the slides. Calvin just walked around the water and splashed. It was so fun, and a bit scary at the same time. Its a big responsibility to watch kids who can't swim play in the water. We had to be on guard 100% of the time, not really trusting any of the lifeguards to pay close attention to our kids. We joined the rest of the family for dinner at the restaurant, and then got the kids to bed. Once we knew they were both sleeping, we took a walk down to the dock area and were very impressed by the frogs. We couldn't see any of them, but we could HEAR them. They were screaming so loud!! We had to raise our voices over their singing to talk to each other. Dave and I sat on the end of the dock for awhile enjoying the alone time. It was a rare treat on weekends like this. The night time did not go so well. Calvin kept waking up and screaming intermittently at 2 am, 4 am, and 6:30 am. At one point, Violet woke up at 4 am and said "Can I get up now?" I told her NO, and instructed her to go pee and get back in bed. She did, and actually went back to sleep. It was still pitch dark outside, she must have just not known what was going on. Dave got up with Calvin at 6:30 am and rubbed his back for what seemed like forever, but he went back to sleep and slept in til 8:30 am. Rough night. Saturday we spent most of the day out roaming the lake on a rented pontoon boat. A couple times we threw in the anchor near shore and swam in the lake for awhile. Violet got in each time with her life jacket. She still doesn't trust her jacket to hold her up in the water. She had to cling to somebody and hold on. My dad drove the boat most of the time, Dave, Aunt Ruth, Grandma Rowena and I got out and swam. We took a break from the boat for lunch and naps in the middle of the day, and returned the boat later in the evening. We couldn't get dinner reservations until 7:45 pm. Too late for Calvin, so he ate earlier in the evening and we put him to bed before we went down to the restaurant. Violet was a ham and charmed everyone. She especially made a connection with Aunt Ruth. She ended up in her lap at dinner time, and they started singing all these goofy made up songs. Aunt Ruth decided they were being too loud (ha!) so they went to a further place away from the rest of us and danced and sung together for what seemed like an hour or so. I could hear them both giggling and laughing almost the whole time. When they got back to the table, Violet announced that they traded names. She was Ruth and Aunt Ruth was Violet. I don't know where this came from, but Violet always points to Aunt Ruth and says "MITT!" Its a silly game they invented that seems unrelated to anything she knows about. Even the next morning when Violet caught her first glimpse of Aunt Ruth, she immediately ran up to her and pointed at her and said "MITT!" lol ~ whatever. I'm glad they had a chance to connect in such a fun way. My aunt Ruth can be so silly sometimes. Its nice when people who don't spent 24/7 time with a kid have the energy to sustain a 3 yr old at such a high level for that amount of time. I certainly couldn't have done that now. I have short spurts. But I remember when I didn't have kids and would spent time with my nieces and nephews, I was the same way with goofy games and silly songs. Its just different when you're a parent, I guess. :) Saturday night the kids slept much better. After a quick buffet breakfast, Dave and Violet hit the water park again and Calvin and I watched them from the balcony. Violet probably had the MOST fun this morning in the pool. She made a little friend on the slides. A little boy noticed her and showed her his little temporary tattoo on his arm. She thought that was cool, poked it a couple times, and then they went down the little slide together. They giggled, and ran back up to do it again. She initially was too scared to go down this bigger tube slide, but she saw this little boy do it and she got brave and went down the slide, too. The family made plans to all meet in Albia for lunch at Hardinger grandparent's place. We didn't have that plan for the weekend when we all started, but it seemed to be a good idea for everyone. We were a little late checking out of our hotel room, since Dave and Violet had to clean up after being in the pool. Everybody drove to their place and Grandma Rowena cooked up some burger patties she had in the freezer. Aunt Ruth cooked the sweet corn, and they threw together a salad or two. We thought we'd drive home right after lunch, but we decided to put the kids down the naps in their comfy beds at grandma's place before driving home so the naps would actually be comfortable and restful, as opposed to them sleeping in their car seats. Sooo...the kids slept, people left one by one, and we were the last to leave once the kids woke up. The drive back went well - it was only 2 hours. We left their place around 3:30. Grandma Rowena gave her this silly little dancing cat that sings Electric Avenue and lights up and dances. She played that constantly for about an hour until we thought we were going to go crazy hearing that song one more time. V and C are pretty good about making each other laugh in the car. Dave and Violet went to night meeting at the chapel, while Calvin and I stayed home. He was hungry so I made him oatmeal and bananas - he used a spoon to feed himself and had plenty of fun doing that. He seemed to be really happy to be home and be able to have all the toys to himself with out Violet stealing them from him. He entertained himself really well for about an hour while I got the dishes unloaded, suit case and bags unpacked and got the laundry started. It feels good to have made progress...unpacking and cleaning up from trips is hard for me to do, so having that almost done feels good. As I type this, Violet and Dave got home and she's already melting down quickly. She's already thrown a few fits, and is sitting in time out because she was whining. I can't wait to get her in bed so we can relax for a little while!! The week starts...tomorrow.

The boat was resurrected...sort of

Dave spent a good deal of time on Sunday afternoon working on the boat motor. He took apart things and found little problems here and there, slowly making progress to a running motor. He's not even an "engine guy" ... and was "fixing" things by sight. He did get the motor running pretty well, so he felt confident enough to put the boat in the river last night. We packed up the kids and attached the boat to the truck after supper on Monday night and went to the boat ramp. He got the boat in the water and first took a ride by himself, then picked up the rest of us. It still isn't running perfect. When the motor runs at higher speeds, it tends to kick back and stall. So its still not working that great. But it was reliable enough to start up with each turn of the key and got us back to the dock safely. Violet LOVED the boat ride, of course, and Calvin tolerated it. He was mostly fixed on looking for birds in the sky that he could enthusiastically point at. We drove the boat past our river house and pointed it out to Violet. She said "Oh! I remember that house! Remember when I was a baby, I was sleeping in a crib!" I really don't think she remembers that. She might be programmed by hearing us tell her that when she lived at that house she used to be a baby. And babies sleep in cribs, naturally, lol. Towards the end of our boat ride, Dave noticed there was a small leak in the boat or somewhere in the engine allowing water to seep into the boat. The bilge pump pumps it out, but still, knowing there is a leak in the boat doesn't give me a ton of confidence. We had tentative plans to take the boat down to Lake Rathbun this weekend with the Hardinger family, but it seems the boat isn't working all that well so we're not going to take it.

Some people just don't give up

The "buyer" for our house just isn't giving up. He is determined to buy our house, and sent another complicated offer via email last night. We don't know what to do. Keep praying!

July 4th weekend

It was another busy summer weekend for us! Shawn and Kim Thompson are back in Iowa for a month break from school in Dallas. They were kind enough to join us for a couple days. They arrived on Friday morning, and took us out to eat at the Waffle Stop for breakfast. To eat up some spare time between the meal and the kids' naps, we went to see a little free petting zoo in Waterloo. Violet and Calvin got to walk around and feed donkeys, goats, birds, chickens, cats, rabbits, and turkeys. Violet's favorite thing was putting a piece of carrot in a donkey's mouth, and Calvin LOVED the little baby bunny in the cage. The little baby bunny was so tiny, it was probably the size of an orange. He kept saying "ooooh!" and poking it with his little fat fingers through the cage. He also liked to see the kitties in the cage. He said "hi!" to most of them. He got some goat poop on his sandals which ended up on my pant leg when I picked him up. Shawn and Kim came with us to the hog roast that Bethany Bible Chapel (ie: BBC) on Friday night and most of Saturday. BBC hosted a July 4th bash at a friend's farm house in the country. We showed up on Friday night (it was held at a friend's farm house) in time for the fireworks...so that meant we left our house around 9:30 pm. I was so sure it was going to be a mess because they were up so much later than their bed times, but it went OK. Violet was really happy to see all her friends there and really loved the fireworks. Calvin clung to me and clutched tighter with the loud booms, but he didn't cry. He was a little curious and brave enough to crane his neck backwards to see what all the excitement was about, but for the most part, he wanted to stay right in my lap with his blankie and paci. We got home right after they did their little fireworks show (which was REALLY good considering it was a one-man show!) and got the kids to bed ASAP. The next day we went back out to the hog roast at the farm. The hog was in the big roaster and it was raining. Most everybody stayed under the tent until it cleared up. People played yard games and we let the kids run around and have fun. I had to rescue Calvin from an open fire pit a couple times. Violet got to blow bubbles and run around with her friends. She learned to say "Ready, Mark, Set, Go!" and take off running over and over and over. We watched the hog get cut up when it was done cooking (a sight!) and then we all had a buffet lunch with BBQ pork and lots of salad choices. V and C didn't eat much, but they both did eat a few cookies. Dave was asked to lead the crowd in a short devotional time. The hosts of the party asked if he could bring out the gospel in his message because they knew a lot of unsaved people would be attending the bash. He did a good job with his message, and made the analogy of the slaves being set free after the emancipation proclamation was signed but some slaves didn't know about it until 2 1/2 yrs had passed and the word eventually got around (imagine if they all had cell phones and email during that time!). He said as Christians we are to live as though we are set free from sin and from the penalty and power of sin. Shawn and Kim left that afternoon. We left the hog roast around 2 pm, and the kids napped. Dave and I cleaned up the house a little. We got a pizza for supper that night, and made another decisions to go to the fireworks in Cedar Falls Saturday night. Another late night...but it was worth it. Violet was really excited to go again. We drove there and she kept telling us that the moon was coming with us to the fireworks because she saw it out her window as we were driving and it looked as though the moon was driving with us. She had a blast watching them boom and sparkle. Calvin acted the same, Dave held him this time. Sunday morning came too quickly...with all of us lacking major sleep, the kids were pretty whiny and tired. When I got Calvin from the nursery he was screaming so badly his little body was tightening up. We got home, fed him lunch, gave him a dose of ibuprofen, and he slept for 3 1/2 hours. Violet took a nap, too. Dave is suffering the most, I think. He has been battling a sore throat and cold for a few days now. This morning he woke up and he said his sore throat was so bad, and he felt like it was moving further down his throat. So he made an appointment with the doctor to see if its something more serious and if he can get some better medicine to treat his pain and make him better. His appointment is at 2 pm today, I hope it helps.

This house sale is crumbling

The buyer for our river house is no longer. He has been a pain since the beginning, asking us unreasonable things. He submitted a final offer and we did not like the terms of what he thought was a good agreement, so we rejected the offer, and the house will be back on the market in one day. *sigh* He was having a hard time getting a good loan to buy the house, but since it is not a habitable property, he can't get a conventional loan - a construction loan only. He lied about his income (said he had renters in an apartment building he owns, but he doesn't have renters at this time), and neither Dave or I have had a super good feeling about this guy from the beginning. He wrote us a letter saying how disappointed he is in this whole thing. His realtor and him have worked really hard, but he just doesn't see things the way we do. He still really wants the house, but its just not working. We are going to proceed the direction of opening up another claim with our insurance company asking for the money to raise up the house. ICC is called "Increased Cost of Compliance" - and its coverage that pays to raise the house up because we have to comply with the city's guidelines for rebuilding. We think if we can get the insurance company to pay for it, we could sell the house later on. Maybe the same buyer would make an offer, who knows. But the road is still long, back to square one.