Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Vanessa took her first step alone
On Monday, I was sitting on a tiny little kid chair next to their blow-up pool on the deck. Vanessa was standing up next to me hanging onto my legs, when she let go, faced towards the pool, and walked one step alone towards the edge of the pool and rested her hands on the edge. She hasn't had any more interest in walking, other than hanging onto things when standing up. Everybody tells me she looks SO much like Calvin!
Memorial Day 2011
We spent the morning and lunch time at the river house yesterday morning. We invited some friends of ours to come and spend the time with us and relax and enjoy the breezy sunny day. Even though it was completely ran over with weeds, all the kids found something to do (with the big pile of sand near the driveway or on the rope swing) for a couple hours. Selena and I both contributed to food for lunch, and we brought some tables and chairs there to sit on. She brought apples, mandarin oranges, macaroni and cheese, and drinks, and I brought buns, BBQ chicken and frosted brownies. We sat and watched the boats and jet skis zoom by. It was strangely cozy and familiar, I loved being out there. I know Dave did too. The house inside is a wreck, still torn apart and looking drab. The exterior looks nice, with new staircases and a bigger garage door. We have such mixed feelings about that place. It could be such a fun and relaxing "second home on the water" but it would be such a pain to fix it all up to completion. If we had the cash flow it would actually work to fix up and keep it, and rent it out and make it available for people to use when housing is temporarily needed. But...since we're not in that position, we're just waiting for now. It was nice to revisit it, since we rarely make it out there.
After lunch was over, we headed home. V and C were excited to get the new blow-up swimming pool all set up, so that was our afternoon/evening activity. We threw the popped one in the garbage, blew up the new one, and filled it up with water. We have 2 hose spigots in the garage (one hot, one cold) so we filled it up 90% with cold water, and then changed the hose connection and turned it on boiling hot for the last 30 minutes. The kids stirred up the water and it got nice and warm, allowing them to swim in the water for a couple hours. Calvin and Violet soaked everything in sight. Vanessa stood on the edge splashing her hands in the water. This is also the time when she took her first step from holding onto my legs to taking a step alone and holding onto the edge of the pool. I put a swim diaper on her and held her in the water for awhile, but she got cold pretty quick. Violet kept saying "Ahhhh...." and leaning her head back saying more "Ahhh...this is so relaxing...this is soooo nice."
We have been given the "gift of an ordinary day" - thank you Lord! I need to keep that in mind when I am frustrated and feel like these days will never end.
After lunch was over, we headed home. V and C were excited to get the new blow-up swimming pool all set up, so that was our afternoon/evening activity. We threw the popped one in the garbage, blew up the new one, and filled it up with water. We have 2 hose spigots in the garage (one hot, one cold) so we filled it up 90% with cold water, and then changed the hose connection and turned it on boiling hot for the last 30 minutes. The kids stirred up the water and it got nice and warm, allowing them to swim in the water for a couple hours. Calvin and Violet soaked everything in sight. Vanessa stood on the edge splashing her hands in the water. This is also the time when she took her first step from holding onto my legs to taking a step alone and holding onto the edge of the pool. I put a swim diaper on her and held her in the water for awhile, but she got cold pretty quick. Violet kept saying "Ahhhh...." and leaning her head back saying more "Ahhh...this is so relaxing...this is soooo nice."
We have been given the "gift of an ordinary day" - thank you Lord! I need to keep that in mind when I am frustrated and feel like these days will never end.
Consulting the Bible about how to play with their toys
Monday was a wonderful day! The morning was relaxed, Dave was off work because of Memorial Day, we spent most of the day with friends, and the weather was great!
The morning was entertaining, however. Violet and Calvin started creating a "path" with as many toys as they could find in the cabinet. With the addition of each toy and the decision about which direction the path should go, they decided to consult with the Bible about what to do next. I was busy with something else (probably sorting laundry and feeding Vanessa breakfast) and wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing until I heard Violet say "let's go read the Bible to find out what to do next". They were running over to the couch and opening up a book taken from the bookshelf they thought was the Bible...pretending to read the instructions...and finding whatever toy it was they were instructed to get, and proceeded to continue building their path. The verse Psalm 119:105 came to my mind: "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."
I kept Vanessa happy in the chair connected to the kitchen island countertop so she didn't mess up their toy project.
The morning was entertaining, however. Violet and Calvin started creating a "path" with as many toys as they could find in the cabinet. With the addition of each toy and the decision about which direction the path should go, they decided to consult with the Bible about what to do next. I was busy with something else (probably sorting laundry and feeding Vanessa breakfast) and wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing until I heard Violet say "let's go read the Bible to find out what to do next". They were running over to the couch and opening up a book taken from the bookshelf they thought was the Bible...pretending to read the instructions...and finding whatever toy it was they were instructed to get, and proceeded to continue building their path. The verse Psalm 119:105 came to my mind: "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."
I kept Vanessa happy in the chair connected to the kitchen island countertop so she didn't mess up their toy project.
Grandma Dee visited!
I don't remember the last time Grandma Dee was in Cedar Falls. The last time I saw her was at Jay and Molly's wedding in 2009. It was sad to see her without Grandpa Joe, but she seemed pretty happy overall and I was glad to see her. She looks healthier and seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight...unless I have a bad memory. Jay and Molly came up from Cedar Rapids and arrived first to our house, a few minutes before mom, dad and Grandma Dee came. The time people arrived is normally Calvin and Vanessa's nap time, but I didn't want to put them to bed since I knew everybody wanted to see the kids. Calvin did fine. Vanessa actually took a snooze on the floor before people arrived. Violet set up a bed for her on the floor with her blankets and she slept for 30 minutes. I knew she'd take a much longer nap in I put her upstairs in her dark bedroom. Grandma Dee enjoyed seeing everyone, smiling as she held Vanessa the first time. Calvin and Violet do not remember her, but were polite, nice, and warmed up to her very quickly. We talked in the living room for awhile, then ventured outside and the kids played on the swingset. Grandma Dee proposed scheduling another family cruise to Hawaii next year, maybe Jan or Feb. She needs everybody's schedules to see when works the best for everyone.
Four generations of women!
Grandma Dee was the keeper of the raisin box that Vanessa had been playing with all afternoon. :)
Chatting with Calvin about nobody-knows-what...
Another quick trip to guess where? Yup...Chicago
Dave bought a car to take to his twice-a-month trips to Minneapolis for work. Since he got a different job as a manager of a team of field service engineers within Calix, he decided to make the committment to go to their HQ in MN to make personal connections important. It only involves being gone for 1 night, which is very do-able for me and the kids. Its the week-long absences that make us all go crazy!
So anyway...he searched high and low for weeks for "the right car"....and settled on a 02 BMW M3 with red leather interior. It was located in Milwaukee...so last week Friday we all drove as a family up there, picked up the car from the family he bought it from, and since we were so close to Josh and Carrie, we decided to stay there for a night and most of Saturday. It was a long day of driving - but our kids have turned into great travelers over the last month. Violet and Calvin are constantly singing to pass the time and making up silly games to play. Vanessa sleeps well in the car.
We got to J&Cs around 9 pm that night. They let their kids stay up waiting for us to get there, so it was about an hour and a half before we got the kids to bed. Austin, Violet, Renee and Calvin were SO excited to see each other! All 4 kids played in their basement for awhile - even Vanessa crawled around for awhile, since she slept quite a bit in the car that day. Once we finally got them all in bed, we stayed awake for another couple hours talking to J&C in their living room. They had planned s'mores by the fire, but it was raining so that canned those plans.
Saturday was relaxing! Having the kids grow up a little has really helped! Austin is 6, Violet is 5, Renee is 4, and Calvin is 3. Those 4 kids pretty much were glued together, doing everything in sight, running around, not needing much tending to. Wesley and Vanessa crawled everywhere and we kept them in sight at all times, but 2 needing attention sure seemed a lot less than 6 kids. Carrie and I cooked up some scrambled eggs, potato hashbrowns, and sausage for breakfast. She and I got to take off and grab some coffee together when the younger two kids were taking naps. Josh and Dave cooked dinner by themselves, kicking the ladies out of the kitchen. Monday was Carrie's birthday, so Josh planned a meal and cooked it (and cleaned up) for everybody. He grilled seasoned sesame chicken with pineapple, made rice and broccoli, and served a key lime pie. It was delicious! We packed up our stuff and headed out...later than we wanted (the plan was to leave by 4)...but we got on the road by 6:30. I really thought all 3 kids would knock out and fall asleep immediately as soon as the van started driving (Calvin did), but the 2 girls stayed awake. We drove home on 90 and 20, stopping a few times, and switching up who was in which car. I had brought along the spare car seats so V and C could ride with daddy in the new car. They loved riding with him too. We wanted to stop at the observation deck tower by Galena and climb all the flights of stairs up to the top to see the view, but it was closed down.
We didn't get home til around 11. V and C were sleeping when we got home so they got transported to their beds in their clothes and all - didn't even brush their teeth (sorry dad!). They continued to sleep through the night, and were surprised to wake up and find themselves in their clothes! We did have to wake up Calvin a bit and put a pull-up on him so he didn't wet the bed. Sunday morning was pretty crazy - we knew all 3 of the kids needed baths before going to church, so Dave got in the shower with Calvin (he's always the first kid out of bed), and I got in the kid's shower, and after I was ready, I bathed Violet and Vanessa in the tub in our bathroom. They were super quick baths...but very necessary. We all got up at 8 am, and left the house at 8:59!
So anyway...he searched high and low for weeks for "the right car"....and settled on a 02 BMW M3 with red leather interior. It was located in Milwaukee...so last week Friday we all drove as a family up there, picked up the car from the family he bought it from, and since we were so close to Josh and Carrie, we decided to stay there for a night and most of Saturday. It was a long day of driving - but our kids have turned into great travelers over the last month. Violet and Calvin are constantly singing to pass the time and making up silly games to play. Vanessa sleeps well in the car.
We got to J&Cs around 9 pm that night. They let their kids stay up waiting for us to get there, so it was about an hour and a half before we got the kids to bed. Austin, Violet, Renee and Calvin were SO excited to see each other! All 4 kids played in their basement for awhile - even Vanessa crawled around for awhile, since she slept quite a bit in the car that day. Once we finally got them all in bed, we stayed awake for another couple hours talking to J&C in their living room. They had planned s'mores by the fire, but it was raining so that canned those plans.
Saturday was relaxing! Having the kids grow up a little has really helped! Austin is 6, Violet is 5, Renee is 4, and Calvin is 3. Those 4 kids pretty much were glued together, doing everything in sight, running around, not needing much tending to. Wesley and Vanessa crawled everywhere and we kept them in sight at all times, but 2 needing attention sure seemed a lot less than 6 kids. Carrie and I cooked up some scrambled eggs, potato hashbrowns, and sausage for breakfast. She and I got to take off and grab some coffee together when the younger two kids were taking naps. Josh and Dave cooked dinner by themselves, kicking the ladies out of the kitchen. Monday was Carrie's birthday, so Josh planned a meal and cooked it (and cleaned up) for everybody. He grilled seasoned sesame chicken with pineapple, made rice and broccoli, and served a key lime pie. It was delicious! We packed up our stuff and headed out...later than we wanted (the plan was to leave by 4)...but we got on the road by 6:30. I really thought all 3 kids would knock out and fall asleep immediately as soon as the van started driving (Calvin did), but the 2 girls stayed awake. We drove home on 90 and 20, stopping a few times, and switching up who was in which car. I had brought along the spare car seats so V and C could ride with daddy in the new car. They loved riding with him too. We wanted to stop at the observation deck tower by Galena and climb all the flights of stairs up to the top to see the view, but it was closed down.
We didn't get home til around 11. V and C were sleeping when we got home so they got transported to their beds in their clothes and all - didn't even brush their teeth (sorry dad!). They continued to sleep through the night, and were surprised to wake up and find themselves in their clothes! We did have to wake up Calvin a bit and put a pull-up on him so he didn't wet the bed. Sunday morning was pretty crazy - we knew all 3 of the kids needed baths before going to church, so Dave got in the shower with Calvin (he's always the first kid out of bed), and I got in the kid's shower, and after I was ready, I bathed Violet and Vanessa in the tub in our bathroom. They were super quick baths...but very necessary. We all got up at 8 am, and left the house at 8:59!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Violet's last day of preschool - May 27, 2011
Crazy...seems like I was just blogging about her first day of school over 2 years ago. Violet is not a preschooler anymore - she's going to be a "big kid" at school after the summer is over! The last day was a celebration of the school year, all families were invited. The teachers got emotional and said they had such a great year and were going to miss all the kids. They played a slideshow of pictures showing us all things they did throughout the whole year. This day was special for Violet, because the entire family came to school to participate in the celebration. Even Grandma Rowena was there to celebrate with us. She was impressed by the facility and the way it seemed like all the parents of each child was present and celebrating with them. Calvin already knows Mrs. Knapp and Ms. Willhite from the countless drop-offs and pick-ups that Violet had throughout the previous school year. He hopped right up into Mrs. Knapp's lap and told her lots of things. After it was over, the kids ran to the lobby to get cupcakes and juice, and the rest of the time the kids played outside on the playground and we left when we wanted. We snapped a few pictures too.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Dave painted his Sunday School classroom today
This project of his started as a result of all his Sunday School classroom kids voicing their opinion that their classroom was unkept and boring. They suggested painting it a different color, and Dave thought that was a good idea. They are all 11-12 yr olds. Every kid had a different color suggestion. After a few weeks of deliberation they came to an agreement on a blue accent wall and the other 3 walls a light grayish color.
He's been working on it all day. He left at 8:15 am to go prep the room with painting tape and plastic on the floor. Brianna, Kari Jo and Violet helped (Brianna mostly) tape. Violet was able to focus long enough to put strips of tape against the rubber trip on half of the whole room. I think she did a decent job too because Dave didn't move it. The room was finally prepped in 3 hours. Calvin ran around the church building and I watched Vanessa crawl around. We came home for a lunch break, I put the younger 2 to bed, and Violet went with Dave to help him paint. Its been a long day for him. I called him around 5 to check progress and he said 3 of the 4 walls were painted. I offered to bring some pizzas for supper, so after the kids woke up from their naps I went and got 2 pizzas and brought them to the church building. Vanessa ate a whole piece of cheese pizza, Calvin had 2, Violet ate 1. I let the kids play on the playground equipment for a couple hours so they could burn off some energy. They were completely FILTHY when I got them home...so they went straight to the tub. I let all 3 of them play in the water in the big tub in my bathroom - which they love. I took Vanessa out and let V and C fill up the tub with more water. After bathtime, I read them a couple books and they both went to bed without any trouble - I could tell they were exhausted!
Dave just called me to say he finished up the last wall and got done cleaning the brushes and rollers...its 9:53 pm!
He's been working on it all day. He left at 8:15 am to go prep the room with painting tape and plastic on the floor. Brianna, Kari Jo and Violet helped (Brianna mostly) tape. Violet was able to focus long enough to put strips of tape against the rubber trip on half of the whole room. I think she did a decent job too because Dave didn't move it. The room was finally prepped in 3 hours. Calvin ran around the church building and I watched Vanessa crawl around. We came home for a lunch break, I put the younger 2 to bed, and Violet went with Dave to help him paint. Its been a long day for him. I called him around 5 to check progress and he said 3 of the 4 walls were painted. I offered to bring some pizzas for supper, so after the kids woke up from their naps I went and got 2 pizzas and brought them to the church building. Vanessa ate a whole piece of cheese pizza, Calvin had 2, Violet ate 1. I let the kids play on the playground equipment for a couple hours so they could burn off some energy. They were completely FILTHY when I got them home...so they went straight to the tub. I let all 3 of them play in the water in the big tub in my bathroom - which they love. I took Vanessa out and let V and C fill up the tub with more water. After bathtime, I read them a couple books and they both went to bed without any trouble - I could tell they were exhausted!
Dave just called me to say he finished up the last wall and got done cleaning the brushes and rollers...its 9:53 pm!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
My first "real" sewing project - Violet's twirler dress
So I found this pattern online a long time ago, thinking it was super adorable and thought it looked relatively easy to make. http://www.etsy.com/listing/74169959/tiered-patchwork-twirler-epattern-for
I ordered it, and the pattern sat on my desk for awhile. Then we had a month of unexpected travel after Dave's grandma died, so I put the project off. When we got home, I made a trip to the fabric store for some inspiration. I knew Violet liked butterflies, pink, sparkly, purple, cupcakes, etc...so I found 8 fabrics that seemed to go together, and bought them. I came home with:
1. bright pink with silver sparkles
2. multicolored stripes
3. cupcakes
4. butterflies (abstract, on white)
5. more butterflies (dark purple background)
6. more butterflies (smaller, on white)
7. purple flower
8. purple dots
The project was quite a bit more complicated than I expected...but I'm glad I pushed myself to finish it. It turned out so cute! It took me about 5 days, quite a few hours after kid's bedtime, and the kitchen was probably messier because of it. :) Violet anticipated my adding each layer and is now twirling in the house with it on.
I ordered it, and the pattern sat on my desk for awhile. Then we had a month of unexpected travel after Dave's grandma died, so I put the project off. When we got home, I made a trip to the fabric store for some inspiration. I knew Violet liked butterflies, pink, sparkly, purple, cupcakes, etc...so I found 8 fabrics that seemed to go together, and bought them. I came home with:
1. bright pink with silver sparkles
2. multicolored stripes
3. cupcakes
4. butterflies (abstract, on white)
5. more butterflies (dark purple background)
6. more butterflies (smaller, on white)
7. purple flower
8. purple dots
The project was quite a bit more complicated than I expected...but I'm glad I pushed myself to finish it. It turned out so cute! It took me about 5 days, quite a few hours after kid's bedtime, and the kitchen was probably messier because of it. :) Violet anticipated my adding each layer and is now twirling in the house with it on.
twirling, of course. :)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
My quiet morning
The Lord worked it out for me to have a much needed quiet and productive morning. Dave needed to go to the eye doctor, so he took Violet to preschool for me, and also brought Calvin along with him to the appointment. Vanessa slept in until 10 am, so I was able to get caught up recording the finances, balancing the accounts against the bank statements, get all the laundry downstairs, separated, and a couple loads in, empty the dishwasher, load it with dirty dishes, and clean the kitchen. I forgot how productive I could be all alone. Tonight is small group so now all I have to do is vacuum the carpet and put laundry away!
Calvin's take on Dave's new glasses
"Daddy, take them off and I'll like them better."
Dave got some new glasses and this is what Calvin said about them this morning when we were all eating breakfast together. They are very different than his other pair of glasses he usually wears.
Dave got some new glasses and this is what Calvin said about them this morning when we were all eating breakfast together. They are very different than his other pair of glasses he usually wears.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Grandma Butler's memorial service in Chicago
We went to Chicago this past weekend to attend the memorial service for Dave's Grandma Butler. The original plan was for Dave to go himself, go there Friday after work and come right back afterwards on Saturday. But then I found out Rachel was going to be in Chicago for an ortho alumni thing, and we made plans to get together Saturday night downtown at the restaurant (Leopold) that my cousin Christy and her husband opened in January. Dave's cousin Kala also came with us.
We had planned on leaving for Chicago right after Dave got off work on Friday, but he was so bogged down with stuff to accomplish before the weekend that he worked until 7 pm, much later than he and I wanted. We also had to deal with the truck which had a dead battery and was stuck in the Hertz parking lot on University Avenue. It was a frustrating afternoon/evening for me because I was trying to handle 3 kids, pack up stuff and load the car at the same time. To make a long story short, we did not leave Cedar Falls until close to 9 pm. We got to Dave's mom's house at 1:30 am - I don't remember much of the trip because we were both tired. The kids slept, Vanessa was awake the most, crying the last hour of the trip. Dave was starting to get really sleepy at the wheel so I used his phone to look up some of the lyrics of his favorite songs and he sang songs to keep himself awake. It was actually pretty funny, we got the "goonies" the last hour of the trip because his performances were hilarious. He managed to perform "Bohemian Rhapsody" while navigating through Chicago traffic at 1 am. It worked to wake him up!
When we got to Martha's house, the kids thought it was MORNING. Yeah...not so fun. They were awake as could be, jumped on the beds, ran around the basement, and were giggling and playing games. Vanessa was crawling around and growing and sqwaking for a long time. We just wanted them to go to SLEEP so we could sleep. It wasn't until close to 2:45 am that they finally settled down and went to sleep. Violet slept on the floor on a bed of blankets, Calvin got the twin bed, and Dave and I slept in the full size bed - all in the same room. Vanessa slept in the crib in the basement outside our room, but she did not sleep well. She woke up many times crying. That next morning was a drag. Nobody seemed happy and we barely managed to get showered, fed, dressed, and out of the house to the memorial service (which was 45 min away) in Wheaton by 11:00. The kids ate oatmeal at Martha's house but Dave and I didn't have time for breakfast so we stopped at BK and got sausage and egg muffin sandwiches on the way.
The memorial service was very nice. It was held at College Church in Wheaton, about 60 people were there. Florence's sister Madeline was there, she is 76, and flew in from North Carolina. I recognized a lot of people. Lots of family from Joe Butler's brother were there, Betsy Hunt and all her siblings....I can't remember them all. Lots of stories and memories were shared. Martha stood up and retold about the last hours that Aunt Laura had with Grandma Butler. Dave sat with Violet and Calvin, I walked around and bounced Vanessa - she was restless, wiggly, and loud...so I was very distracted.
Lunch was provided so we walked across the street to an area where it was being served. Chicken, rice, and sugar snap peas were served. Dave and I thought it was good but the kids didn't - they barely touched it, preferring dinner rolls. To avoid the fight, we just let them eat dinner rolls. There was a TV set up in another room next to the room we were all eating, and I learned that Dave's aunt Mary had asked for a TV to be put there so the kids could have something to watch - Josh and Carrie brought some Elmo movies. The video kept them entertained for a short time, but they just started running around - Violet found some "secret passage" which was actually just two doors that led to a hallway between the two rooms. She attached to some older girls which are actually Dave's 2nd cousins once removed or something like that - age 15 and 20, they were happy to play with them. They performed cartwheels and tricks. Calvin followed Violet around like a puppy. Vanessa cried, I fed her, and she took a nap in the stroller. Dave and I talked with people there for a couple hours....until we decided it was time to go. Kala and I had to catch the train downtown at 5:20 so I had to get back to Martha's house to change clothes.
The evening turned out to be really fun. Dave was kind enough to take all the kids under his care for the night while I went out to eat at Leopold, the restaurant that my cousin Christy and her husband Don opened in January. Rachel, Kala and I enjoyed the atmosphere, lighting, and especially the food. Christy was busy expediting orders in the kitchen, busy as a bee. The food was delicious!! We had oysters and wine for an appetizer on the house, fries with lamb sausage gravy and cheese curds with some delicious undescribable sauce that was sweet and salty, pierogies, and short ribs with potatoes. For dessert we tried their cheesecake with fresh berries and strawberry sauce (on the house!), and some chocolate mousse. Our taste buds were majorly pleased - every dish was fantastic. Some pear cider to finish the night, and we had to leave to catch the train back to the suburbs. Christy was able to sneak away for a few minutes to greet us, we snapped a pic just to prove it, and we had to go. I wish we could have seen Christy for longer. The weather in Chicago that night was MISERABLE. It was freezing cold, raining, windy, and the umbrella we tried to use kept getting blown insideout. Rachel had met us by coming in a separate cab, so we left her there with Christy, and Kala and I headed straight for Union Station, thinking we were barely going to make our train ride back but turns out, we had the schedule mixed up and were 15 minutes early. We got seats on the 2nd deck together which was nice.
Dave had taken the kids to Josh and Carrie's house for the evening, and stayed late too....so the Lord worked out the timing in an amazing way. I stepped off the train at the station in Berwyn, and called Dave to see where he was so he could pick me up. The drive back to Grandma Martha's house from Josh and Carrie's is about an hour long, so I really didn't know how long I'd be waiting for him to come. When he answered the phone, I asked him where he was, and he said "3 blocks from the train station in Berwyn". amazing! So he pulled up, I got in the van, and we all got back to Martha's. The transition to beds was much smoother than the night before. All 3 kids were truly exhausted and transferred to their beds smoothly and kept sleeping.
Sunday morning we decided to stay home so we could have some down time and pack up all our stuff (which seemed to explode somehow everywhere in Martha's house...clothes and stuff were in every corner of the main floor!). Dave and I had some coffee together in her kitchen with the 3 kids running around - Calvin enjoyed playing in the basement with all the "boy toys". We managed to get showered, dressed, and the van packed (that whole packing up process felt like trying to pour molasses....just crawled along at its own pace no matter our effort to speed up) by 12:15. We were trying to make it to Uncle Roger and Aunt Mary's house by 12:30 for lunch....problem is...it takes 45 minutes to get there. We let them all know by text that we'd be late and don't wait for us. But when we got there, they were all sitting down to eat. The meal was delicious and very pleasant. The kids sat well, ate hot dogs (they weren't real keen on salmon and couscous salad), and conversed pretty well with everyone.
The dinner conversation turned toward everybody remembering things that Grandma Butler made in the kitchen. Roger and Tim remembered saltine crackers and sauteed celery as a snack. Florence's sister Madeline said they stored things in lard because there was no refrigeration in the jungle in Africa where they grew up. Talking to Aunt Madeline was so interesting. She always had a big smile on her face, was very cheerful, and it was almost like talking to Florence because she spoke the same way, said words the same way with the same "accent", sort of looked like her, and had the same eyebrows. She is 76. I know this because Violet asked her how old she was. Madeline made her guess and keep going up and up and up. Violet said "wow!" when she got the number 76. It must seem so big to a 5 yr old mind.
Josh remembered her "tomato bake". Dave remembered she always made scrambled eggs with whatever else was in the fridge....always a surprise there. There were more but I can't remember.
We spent the next 2 or 3 hours at Roger and Mary's house. There wasn't much for the kids to do so Mary put on a Frosty the Snowman movie for them to watch. When that movie was over, Violet found the piano and started playing songs. She knows "Joyful Joyful we adore Thee", Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me by ear...., Mary, who is also a great piano teacher, was right there with her trying to teach her how to touch the piano keys. Everyone ended up in the piano room and Violet wanted to put on a show for everybody. She had the idea to sing a round of Row Row Row Your Boat with everybody in the room - so that was about 8 of us. We did it, and it made her face light up hearing all the harmony. The Butler family can sing!
It was time to go, so we packed up our stuff, said goodbyes, and packed in the van. We made a stop at Starbucks on our way out and headed back to Iowa. We took a different route back home than we usually do to see if it was shorter, but it was hard to know, since we stopped for an hour to have dinner.
I think we got home somewhere close to 11. The kids went right to sleep. Monday morning was difficult. I had to drag Violet out of bed to get to school...I probably should have just let her sleep now that I look back at the day. Vanessa slept in until NOON.
Looking forward to getting our family "back in the swing of things" with out packing up and traveling every few days for 3 weeks straight. Even though it is hard to travel, it is also a huge blessing. Getting away from home makes us miss it, the kids get to connect with family, do different things, and learn the importance of getting together with family even though they don't realize they're learning it now.
We had planned on leaving for Chicago right after Dave got off work on Friday, but he was so bogged down with stuff to accomplish before the weekend that he worked until 7 pm, much later than he and I wanted. We also had to deal with the truck which had a dead battery and was stuck in the Hertz parking lot on University Avenue. It was a frustrating afternoon/evening for me because I was trying to handle 3 kids, pack up stuff and load the car at the same time. To make a long story short, we did not leave Cedar Falls until close to 9 pm. We got to Dave's mom's house at 1:30 am - I don't remember much of the trip because we were both tired. The kids slept, Vanessa was awake the most, crying the last hour of the trip. Dave was starting to get really sleepy at the wheel so I used his phone to look up some of the lyrics of his favorite songs and he sang songs to keep himself awake. It was actually pretty funny, we got the "goonies" the last hour of the trip because his performances were hilarious. He managed to perform "Bohemian Rhapsody" while navigating through Chicago traffic at 1 am. It worked to wake him up!
When we got to Martha's house, the kids thought it was MORNING. Yeah...not so fun. They were awake as could be, jumped on the beds, ran around the basement, and were giggling and playing games. Vanessa was crawling around and growing and sqwaking for a long time. We just wanted them to go to SLEEP so we could sleep. It wasn't until close to 2:45 am that they finally settled down and went to sleep. Violet slept on the floor on a bed of blankets, Calvin got the twin bed, and Dave and I slept in the full size bed - all in the same room. Vanessa slept in the crib in the basement outside our room, but she did not sleep well. She woke up many times crying. That next morning was a drag. Nobody seemed happy and we barely managed to get showered, fed, dressed, and out of the house to the memorial service (which was 45 min away) in Wheaton by 11:00. The kids ate oatmeal at Martha's house but Dave and I didn't have time for breakfast so we stopped at BK and got sausage and egg muffin sandwiches on the way.
The memorial service was very nice. It was held at College Church in Wheaton, about 60 people were there. Florence's sister Madeline was there, she is 76, and flew in from North Carolina. I recognized a lot of people. Lots of family from Joe Butler's brother were there, Betsy Hunt and all her siblings....I can't remember them all. Lots of stories and memories were shared. Martha stood up and retold about the last hours that Aunt Laura had with Grandma Butler. Dave sat with Violet and Calvin, I walked around and bounced Vanessa - she was restless, wiggly, and loud...so I was very distracted.
Lunch was provided so we walked across the street to an area where it was being served. Chicken, rice, and sugar snap peas were served. Dave and I thought it was good but the kids didn't - they barely touched it, preferring dinner rolls. To avoid the fight, we just let them eat dinner rolls. There was a TV set up in another room next to the room we were all eating, and I learned that Dave's aunt Mary had asked for a TV to be put there so the kids could have something to watch - Josh and Carrie brought some Elmo movies. The video kept them entertained for a short time, but they just started running around - Violet found some "secret passage" which was actually just two doors that led to a hallway between the two rooms. She attached to some older girls which are actually Dave's 2nd cousins once removed or something like that - age 15 and 20, they were happy to play with them. They performed cartwheels and tricks. Calvin followed Violet around like a puppy. Vanessa cried, I fed her, and she took a nap in the stroller. Dave and I talked with people there for a couple hours....until we decided it was time to go. Kala and I had to catch the train downtown at 5:20 so I had to get back to Martha's house to change clothes.
The evening turned out to be really fun. Dave was kind enough to take all the kids under his care for the night while I went out to eat at Leopold, the restaurant that my cousin Christy and her husband Don opened in January. Rachel, Kala and I enjoyed the atmosphere, lighting, and especially the food. Christy was busy expediting orders in the kitchen, busy as a bee. The food was delicious!! We had oysters and wine for an appetizer on the house, fries with lamb sausage gravy and cheese curds with some delicious undescribable sauce that was sweet and salty, pierogies, and short ribs with potatoes. For dessert we tried their cheesecake with fresh berries and strawberry sauce (on the house!), and some chocolate mousse. Our taste buds were majorly pleased - every dish was fantastic. Some pear cider to finish the night, and we had to leave to catch the train back to the suburbs. Christy was able to sneak away for a few minutes to greet us, we snapped a pic just to prove it, and we had to go. I wish we could have seen Christy for longer. The weather in Chicago that night was MISERABLE. It was freezing cold, raining, windy, and the umbrella we tried to use kept getting blown insideout. Rachel had met us by coming in a separate cab, so we left her there with Christy, and Kala and I headed straight for Union Station, thinking we were barely going to make our train ride back but turns out, we had the schedule mixed up and were 15 minutes early. We got seats on the 2nd deck together which was nice.
Dave had taken the kids to Josh and Carrie's house for the evening, and stayed late too....so the Lord worked out the timing in an amazing way. I stepped off the train at the station in Berwyn, and called Dave to see where he was so he could pick me up. The drive back to Grandma Martha's house from Josh and Carrie's is about an hour long, so I really didn't know how long I'd be waiting for him to come. When he answered the phone, I asked him where he was, and he said "3 blocks from the train station in Berwyn". amazing! So he pulled up, I got in the van, and we all got back to Martha's. The transition to beds was much smoother than the night before. All 3 kids were truly exhausted and transferred to their beds smoothly and kept sleeping.
Sunday morning we decided to stay home so we could have some down time and pack up all our stuff (which seemed to explode somehow everywhere in Martha's house...clothes and stuff were in every corner of the main floor!). Dave and I had some coffee together in her kitchen with the 3 kids running around - Calvin enjoyed playing in the basement with all the "boy toys". We managed to get showered, dressed, and the van packed (that whole packing up process felt like trying to pour molasses....just crawled along at its own pace no matter our effort to speed up) by 12:15. We were trying to make it to Uncle Roger and Aunt Mary's house by 12:30 for lunch....problem is...it takes 45 minutes to get there. We let them all know by text that we'd be late and don't wait for us. But when we got there, they were all sitting down to eat. The meal was delicious and very pleasant. The kids sat well, ate hot dogs (they weren't real keen on salmon and couscous salad), and conversed pretty well with everyone.
The dinner conversation turned toward everybody remembering things that Grandma Butler made in the kitchen. Roger and Tim remembered saltine crackers and sauteed celery as a snack. Florence's sister Madeline said they stored things in lard because there was no refrigeration in the jungle in Africa where they grew up. Talking to Aunt Madeline was so interesting. She always had a big smile on her face, was very cheerful, and it was almost like talking to Florence because she spoke the same way, said words the same way with the same "accent", sort of looked like her, and had the same eyebrows. She is 76. I know this because Violet asked her how old she was. Madeline made her guess and keep going up and up and up. Violet said "wow!" when she got the number 76. It must seem so big to a 5 yr old mind.
Josh remembered her "tomato bake". Dave remembered she always made scrambled eggs with whatever else was in the fridge....always a surprise there. There were more but I can't remember.
We spent the next 2 or 3 hours at Roger and Mary's house. There wasn't much for the kids to do so Mary put on a Frosty the Snowman movie for them to watch. When that movie was over, Violet found the piano and started playing songs. She knows "Joyful Joyful we adore Thee", Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and Jesus Loves Me by ear...., Mary, who is also a great piano teacher, was right there with her trying to teach her how to touch the piano keys. Everyone ended up in the piano room and Violet wanted to put on a show for everybody. She had the idea to sing a round of Row Row Row Your Boat with everybody in the room - so that was about 8 of us. We did it, and it made her face light up hearing all the harmony. The Butler family can sing!
It was time to go, so we packed up our stuff, said goodbyes, and packed in the van. We made a stop at Starbucks on our way out and headed back to Iowa. We took a different route back home than we usually do to see if it was shorter, but it was hard to know, since we stopped for an hour to have dinner.
I think we got home somewhere close to 11. The kids went right to sleep. Monday morning was difficult. I had to drag Violet out of bed to get to school...I probably should have just let her sleep now that I look back at the day. Vanessa slept in until NOON.
Looking forward to getting our family "back in the swing of things" with out packing up and traveling every few days for 3 weeks straight. Even though it is hard to travel, it is also a huge blessing. Getting away from home makes us miss it, the kids get to connect with family, do different things, and learn the importance of getting together with family even though they don't realize they're learning it now.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
first HOT day of the year
Its May 10th, and its the first HOT day of the year. It feels amazing!! The kids spent ALL morning in the backyard playing on the swingset and playing with the water spraying out of the sprinkler heads of the irrigation system. Normally it isn't spraying during the day, just in the overnight hours, but for some weird reason 8 sprinkler heads were on, and stayed on all morning. The kids got out their digger toys and moved water from place to place, both getting soaking wet. I didn't think to put sunscreen on them (will do it next time!) so they both have nice farmer tanlines already. They ate lunch on the deck. I have a feeling Calvin's nap will be a long one, he was super tired and cranky by 1:45 from being in the sun all day. It was really nice just peeking at them out the window every 5 minutes and accomplishing a lot of things inside! I got the dishwasher emptied, dinner dishes from last night loaded, breakfast dishes in, kitchen cleaned, laundry sorted, toys put away, 4 loads washed and dried already, fed kids lunch, washed diapers, put Calvin and Vanessa to bed, and Violet is watching her Go Fish superstar video.
Vanessa took off her pants
I am boggled how she accomplished this, but Vanessa took off her pants all by herself. I went into get her up from her first nap and she was just in a diaper and t-shirt, pants were shoved in the corner of the crib. I guess I'll never know how she did it unless she does it in front of me. (she's 11 months)
Monday, May 09, 2011
Putting swingset together
Violet "helped" daddy power wash all the pieces, showed off her muscles, lifted the pieces she could, Dave assembled the parts he could while it was upside down, and Dave and I (and with the help of our neighbor, Nate) lifted it up to its feet. This all happened Sunday afternoon/evening.
Burial of Grandma Butler/Chicago weekend
I wish I had my camera for the weekend because there were sooo many great photo opportunties, but it wasn't packed in the case. The case came along, but no camera. Oh well.
On Saturday night around 11 pm we got home from Chicago. We left Thursday morning of last week, 3 days after getting home from a 4-night stay in Minnesota. It was a flury of a turn-around, I scrambled for those 3 days to get caught up in many departments...and then we packed up and left. Dave's brother Sean was still in Chicago (they stayed the week at Martha's house after going to the funeral in MN) and Dave really wanted to go spend time with him.
It turned out to be a really great weekend. I struggled with my attitude at first, really wanting to just stay home, but the Lord blessed our time together. Thursday evening was "Cinco de Mayo" so we all met at a mexican restaurant for dinner. I sat across from Martha with Vanessa, and V and C sat on the other end of the table in the middle of the crowd of cousins. They were well behaved, excited to see everyone, ate well, and did great! I'm realizing my kids are growing up, LOL. Violet and Lynnea really hit it off and became "best buds" during the weekend, playing around with clapping games and dancing at any given minute. Vanessa chowed down on the rice off my plate. It turned into a dancing party at Grandma Martha's. Sean played some old records full of silly childhood songs he and Dave used to love. All the kids were crazy, dancing and jumping around until 10 pm or so. We opted NOT to stay at Martha's house, simply because there was no room and it was crazy enough with the family of 9 taking over every square inch. We stayed at a hotel a few miles from her house instead. Violet jumped right in with her cousins, dancing and goofing around, but Calvin kept to himself playing with the toys and play slides on the Martha's front deck area. I think he was embarassed to dance, haha!
We stayed up too late, but it was super fun. We got to the hotel late, and got the kids to bed as soon as we could. This particular hotel was much different than our 3 bedroom suite at the Embassy Suites last weekend. It was standard Hampton Inn with 2 queen beds and a crib for Vanessa in the corner. Calvin walked in the room and said "Uhh...mom? dad? where's YOUR room?" thinking there was more to it than what he saw. In the previous hotel he and Violet had a room with two queens to themselves. They decided which bed they would share, and we got them in PJs, brushed teeth, and they were sleeping with in 10 minutes. Violet had some "sharing" issues, and insisted on putting her princess pillow in the MIDDLE of the bed but seeing how that wasn't going to work all that well with Calvin an inch from her head, we made her move over. She was not to happy about it (she's got a goofy thing about tucking her head into small cozy corners that she creates) but went to sleep anyway. Vanessa went to sleep too, and Dave and I were in bed shortly after them.
The next morning we all slept in and decided to go eat breakfast in the lobby before we got ready for the day. Calvin is not a happy camper if he doesn't eat with in a short time after waking up. We had yummy waffles, yogurt, and muffins for breakfast. The coffee was pretty decent, too! The kids watched some cartoons on TV (I came across some OLD Loony Toons cartoons that we used to watch when we were kids and ended up watching them with the kids...Rachel, remember Bugs Bunny and the abominable snowman that melted?). The morning was lazy, but we got ready and left in time to go to the cemetary for the burial of Grandma Butler. It was scheduled at 1 pm and we got there a little early by 12:45. Vanessa fell asleep in the car on the way, so we left her to sleep in the van with the windows cracked open (it was a breezy cool day), and she slept through the whole time til we got back to the van after the burial. There were few people there, and I was asked if I could help carry the casket from the car to the burial spot. I had never done it before, but was glad to help. Josh and Dave were on my side, and it was still heavy. Martha's sister Kathy was there, I remember her from YEARS ago at conference. Uncle Roger spoke at the burial spot, and reminded us that we don't weep and mourn like others do, and our hope and faith is in Jesus Christ, the same hope and faith Grandma Butler had, and she was called home and is much happier with the Lord. Aunt Mary brought a bunch of flowers for all the grandkids, and a flower was placed on the casket by each grandkid before being lowered underground. We could see the box from the casket and burial spot on Grandpa Joe Butler next to Florence's spot underground. Calvin watched the "digger man" fill the hole with dirt after she was lowered down.
The family made lunch plans to eat at JC Georges, a favorite lunch destination of Grandmas. Violet sat between Emily and Lynnea and wanted chicken noodle soup after watching Lynnea devour a bowl of her own soup. Vanessa ate most of my chicken noodle soup, I got a spinach salad for lunch. Calvin got a cheeseburger but only ate a couple bites of it.
After lunch, there were no plans, so Dave used his place locator app on his phone to find a park we could all go to. The kids needed a place to run around and Martha's house was not ideal. We found a nice park a few miles from where we were, and it was a nice one!! The weather was great too, it warmed up a little and was sunny. All the kids ran around and entertained themselves for close to 3 hours. We left and ate leftovers at Martha's for dinner, and went back to our hotel at a decent hour...but it was still late. We all slept better. Before leaving Martha's, Dave and Sean made plans to go to the Brookfield Zoo in the morning.
Saturday we met everyone (Josh and Carrie and family, Sean and April and family) at the zoo entrance at 10 am. We spent the WHOLE day there, from 10-6 pm. We saw lions, tigers, zebras, giraffes, dolphins, baboons, Violet, Dave and Calvin got to touch and feed stingrays, birds, etc....there was so much to do and see. We stopped for lunch somewhere in the middle of that time, and let the kids play on the playground equipment in the center of the zoo after lunch. Vanessa stayed in the stroller most of the day, other than nursing breaks and diaper changes. She took a long 2 hr snooze in the stroller while everybody wandered through the petting zoo. She enjoyed watching what was going on. Emily really liked holding her when she got the chance! Vanessa ate a bowl of macaroni and cheese for lunch. Dave rented a double stroller for V and C at the zoo which was a good decision, they got super tired of walking and liked being pushed around. There were random peacocks running around the zoo in all sorts of places, they are such beautiful animals!
I thought it was funny to see a hungry white seagull swoop down and snatch up one of Sean's kid's peanut butter and jelly sandwich right off the table and fly off with it. April and Josh both got pooped on by birds at lunch...ick! Josh got hit on the back of his jacket, April got a dump right on top of her head. She ran to the bathroom quick and washed it out.
Well...it was time to go when the zoo closed at 6. We said our goodbyes and packed in the van - then stopped a few places to get supper. Dave and I first drove through Starbucks, and Violet asked if they had food at that place. I told her there was oatmeal and banana bread, and she excitedly said she wanted oatmeal. So we got her an oatmeal at starbuck's for supper. Calvin wanted chicken nuggets, so we drove through and got him some nuggets at Burger King, and down the street, Dave really wanted Mr. Submarine. So after many stops for different things, we were all fed and ready to take off for our drive home. All 3 kids were sleeping soundly with in 20 minutes of leaving. They all slept for 2 hours! We enjoyed the silence.
We stopped at a rest stop somewhere in Iowa, and the rest of the trip was uneventful. The kids woke up and were giggling and playing silly games for a little while before falling asleep again. Vanessa wasn't too happy the last hour of the trip, crying a lot. I think everybody was glad to be home in their beds.
On Saturday night around 11 pm we got home from Chicago. We left Thursday morning of last week, 3 days after getting home from a 4-night stay in Minnesota. It was a flury of a turn-around, I scrambled for those 3 days to get caught up in many departments...and then we packed up and left. Dave's brother Sean was still in Chicago (they stayed the week at Martha's house after going to the funeral in MN) and Dave really wanted to go spend time with him.
It turned out to be a really great weekend. I struggled with my attitude at first, really wanting to just stay home, but the Lord blessed our time together. Thursday evening was "Cinco de Mayo" so we all met at a mexican restaurant for dinner. I sat across from Martha with Vanessa, and V and C sat on the other end of the table in the middle of the crowd of cousins. They were well behaved, excited to see everyone, ate well, and did great! I'm realizing my kids are growing up, LOL. Violet and Lynnea really hit it off and became "best buds" during the weekend, playing around with clapping games and dancing at any given minute. Vanessa chowed down on the rice off my plate. It turned into a dancing party at Grandma Martha's. Sean played some old records full of silly childhood songs he and Dave used to love. All the kids were crazy, dancing and jumping around until 10 pm or so. We opted NOT to stay at Martha's house, simply because there was no room and it was crazy enough with the family of 9 taking over every square inch. We stayed at a hotel a few miles from her house instead. Violet jumped right in with her cousins, dancing and goofing around, but Calvin kept to himself playing with the toys and play slides on the Martha's front deck area. I think he was embarassed to dance, haha!
We stayed up too late, but it was super fun. We got to the hotel late, and got the kids to bed as soon as we could. This particular hotel was much different than our 3 bedroom suite at the Embassy Suites last weekend. It was standard Hampton Inn with 2 queen beds and a crib for Vanessa in the corner. Calvin walked in the room and said "Uhh...mom? dad? where's YOUR room?" thinking there was more to it than what he saw. In the previous hotel he and Violet had a room with two queens to themselves. They decided which bed they would share, and we got them in PJs, brushed teeth, and they were sleeping with in 10 minutes. Violet had some "sharing" issues, and insisted on putting her princess pillow in the MIDDLE of the bed but seeing how that wasn't going to work all that well with Calvin an inch from her head, we made her move over. She was not to happy about it (she's got a goofy thing about tucking her head into small cozy corners that she creates) but went to sleep anyway. Vanessa went to sleep too, and Dave and I were in bed shortly after them.
The next morning we all slept in and decided to go eat breakfast in the lobby before we got ready for the day. Calvin is not a happy camper if he doesn't eat with in a short time after waking up. We had yummy waffles, yogurt, and muffins for breakfast. The coffee was pretty decent, too! The kids watched some cartoons on TV (I came across some OLD Loony Toons cartoons that we used to watch when we were kids and ended up watching them with the kids...Rachel, remember Bugs Bunny and the abominable snowman that melted?). The morning was lazy, but we got ready and left in time to go to the cemetary for the burial of Grandma Butler. It was scheduled at 1 pm and we got there a little early by 12:45. Vanessa fell asleep in the car on the way, so we left her to sleep in the van with the windows cracked open (it was a breezy cool day), and she slept through the whole time til we got back to the van after the burial. There were few people there, and I was asked if I could help carry the casket from the car to the burial spot. I had never done it before, but was glad to help. Josh and Dave were on my side, and it was still heavy. Martha's sister Kathy was there, I remember her from YEARS ago at conference. Uncle Roger spoke at the burial spot, and reminded us that we don't weep and mourn like others do, and our hope and faith is in Jesus Christ, the same hope and faith Grandma Butler had, and she was called home and is much happier with the Lord. Aunt Mary brought a bunch of flowers for all the grandkids, and a flower was placed on the casket by each grandkid before being lowered underground. We could see the box from the casket and burial spot on Grandpa Joe Butler next to Florence's spot underground. Calvin watched the "digger man" fill the hole with dirt after she was lowered down.
The family made lunch plans to eat at JC Georges, a favorite lunch destination of Grandmas. Violet sat between Emily and Lynnea and wanted chicken noodle soup after watching Lynnea devour a bowl of her own soup. Vanessa ate most of my chicken noodle soup, I got a spinach salad for lunch. Calvin got a cheeseburger but only ate a couple bites of it.
After lunch, there were no plans, so Dave used his place locator app on his phone to find a park we could all go to. The kids needed a place to run around and Martha's house was not ideal. We found a nice park a few miles from where we were, and it was a nice one!! The weather was great too, it warmed up a little and was sunny. All the kids ran around and entertained themselves for close to 3 hours. We left and ate leftovers at Martha's for dinner, and went back to our hotel at a decent hour...but it was still late. We all slept better. Before leaving Martha's, Dave and Sean made plans to go to the Brookfield Zoo in the morning.
Saturday we met everyone (Josh and Carrie and family, Sean and April and family) at the zoo entrance at 10 am. We spent the WHOLE day there, from 10-6 pm. We saw lions, tigers, zebras, giraffes, dolphins, baboons, Violet, Dave and Calvin got to touch and feed stingrays, birds, etc....there was so much to do and see. We stopped for lunch somewhere in the middle of that time, and let the kids play on the playground equipment in the center of the zoo after lunch. Vanessa stayed in the stroller most of the day, other than nursing breaks and diaper changes. She took a long 2 hr snooze in the stroller while everybody wandered through the petting zoo. She enjoyed watching what was going on. Emily really liked holding her when she got the chance! Vanessa ate a bowl of macaroni and cheese for lunch. Dave rented a double stroller for V and C at the zoo which was a good decision, they got super tired of walking and liked being pushed around. There were random peacocks running around the zoo in all sorts of places, they are such beautiful animals!
I thought it was funny to see a hungry white seagull swoop down and snatch up one of Sean's kid's peanut butter and jelly sandwich right off the table and fly off with it. April and Josh both got pooped on by birds at lunch...ick! Josh got hit on the back of his jacket, April got a dump right on top of her head. She ran to the bathroom quick and washed it out.
Well...it was time to go when the zoo closed at 6. We said our goodbyes and packed in the van - then stopped a few places to get supper. Dave and I first drove through Starbucks, and Violet asked if they had food at that place. I told her there was oatmeal and banana bread, and she excitedly said she wanted oatmeal. So we got her an oatmeal at starbuck's for supper. Calvin wanted chicken nuggets, so we drove through and got him some nuggets at Burger King, and down the street, Dave really wanted Mr. Submarine. So after many stops for different things, we were all fed and ready to take off for our drive home. All 3 kids were sleeping soundly with in 20 minutes of leaving. They all slept for 2 hours! We enjoyed the silence.
We stopped at a rest stop somewhere in Iowa, and the rest of the trip was uneventful. The kids woke up and were giggling and playing silly games for a little while before falling asleep again. Vanessa wasn't too happy the last hour of the trip, crying a lot. I think everybody was glad to be home in their beds.
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Swingset
Some friends of ours are moving to Texas and the buyers of their home do not want the swingset in their backyard. They offered it to us! So last night we drove over to their house and Dave disassembled the frame of the swingset and loaded all the pieces into the pick up truck. It will take a lot longer to put back together than it did to take apart, but the kids (and me!) are excited to have their own place to swing. It has a tire swing, baby swing, two swings, a slide, and a bar with rings.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
Dave's Grandma Butler died
Two death posts in a row, this is rare. I barely have time to blog right now because I am catching up with things at home between trips. I will make this very short, and update later. We got news that Dave's Grandma Butler (his mom's mom) was very sick and went to the ER. She was diagnosed with sepsis, failing kidneys, and possibly pancreatic cancer. She went downhill fast. She refused treatment or surgery to fix anything and told doctors and family she was ready to meet her Savior. Dave really wanted to see her before she died so our family packed up and left with in two hours of getting that phone call. She lived in MN so it was about a 4 hr drive. We got a call about 3 hours into the drive that she had died. We went to the hotel instead of the hospital, and spent the next 4 nights there. The visitation was Saturday afternoon, and the funeral was Sunday afternoon. We drove home Monday afternoon, and are heading to Chicago on Thursday evening to attend the burial at the cemetary where his grandpa Joe Butler was buried. There are lots more details I want to record...but that is the basics of it.
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Alright...so now that I've unpacked, completed 5 loads of laundry, caught up with the financial software after a month of being behind and balanced three bank accounts, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher a few times, and got back into the rhythm of being at home...I am going to sit down and blog a little. Violet is watching a Jake and the Neverland Pirates video on the other computer, Calvin is sleeping, and Vanessa just woke up and is playing on the floor. I might have 20 minutes...but we'll see how this goes.
I mention that Dave's grandma got sick quickly and died with in two days of feeling sick. We tried making it up to MN in time to see her before she died, but we didn't quite make it. She died around 6 pm on Thursday (Apr 28) of last week. After hearing about her last minutes from family members, it was evident it was His plan we didn't make it. Grandma Butler's daughter Joyce had said her goodbyes around 3:30 and went home with Aunt Sara (Dave's cousin). Dave's Aunt Laura had spent the last 48 hours with Grandma Butler in the hospital with her, never leaving her side....even slept on the hospital room floor Wed night after she was admitted. Aunt Laura shared some of her last moments with her mother when she spoke at the funeral. Aunt Laura shared that she has had a very rough few years with her mom since she moved to Minnesota. Grandma Butler has been quite rough and grumpy towards her (while suffering from dementia, not remembering much) all the time that Laura had tried to lovingly care for her. Some of the things said by grandma were pretty mean, and most of it was because she did not know why she was being put where she was, and being separated from her daughter (Joyce) who she had always lived with before. Aunt Laura was taking this pretty tough because I can only imagine how hurtful it would be to have your mother speak to you the way she did.
Laura shared some things that Grandma Butler said during her last few moments before she died. It was almost as if to the degree that she was dying, her soft, sweet and loving side started to show through all the tough skin. She said she loved all her children so much. She told Aunt Laura she loved her. She even had a sense of humor with her as Aunt Laura slept on the hospital room floor Wednesday night. She told her "Well its been a long time since we've had a sleep over!" and as she was sleeping, she woke up and said "I've been to glory, and its beautiful!" and then she didn't breathe anymore and died. Laura said she received healing from those sweet moments with her mom, knowing that she was loved, but she said she was sad she isn't able to know and learn more about this sweet lady she exposed the last day of her life.
Friday was a "normal" day for us. With no funeral arrangements made immediately, Dave got to work in the hotel, and I had the kids to myself. After breakfast, I took all of them to the hotel pool for a few hours before lunch. Vanessa sat in a stroller munching on goldfish crackers, and Violet and Calvin swam with their life jackets on. Violet wants to learn how to swim so badly, and even tried but knew she couldn't...so she left on her life jacket. Calvin stayed near the steps the whole time and didn't "let" his life jacket let him float so he could swim...he just splashed water the whole time.
All 3 kids took naps (swimming wears ya out!) in the hotel room (which, i should explain, was REALLY nice, it was a 3 bedroom suite, with one room having 2 queens, a living room/kitchen area, and a separate king size bed in another room...alltogether 2 bathrooms. While the kids slept I tried to rest. Dave finished up working later in the evening.
Saturday the visitation was scheduled from 5-7, with a private family viewing from 4-5 pm. We had quite a bit of time to kill so we decided to drive down to the Mall of America, thinking the kids would enjoy legoland. Well...there was a view of the amusement park right next to legoland, and the sights and sounds of rollercoasters flying by captured their interest WAY more than legos. We decided to buy some points to go on some rides in the park, and that took up all the time we had. From 10-2:30 we took them on lots of different rides. Lots of little truck rides, car races, roller coasters, the ferris wheel, blow-up jumping things, etc....you name it...they had A BLAST. They know the park as "legoland" because that is what we told them we were going to, so the name stuck. They want to go back to "legoland!" again! It is no longer "Camp Snoopy" as I fondly remember it being when I was younger. It is now "Nickelodean Universe" and all the rides are Dora the Explorer, Swiper the Fox, Spongebob, etc. Violet was brave enough to go on a roller coaster with me. There was a new crazy upside down twirly roller coaster that Dave and I each went on separately. We got lunch on the way home (we stopped at Panera) and quickly changed our clothes and headed over to the viewing. The casket was open, which Dave was glad for. Since he couldn't make it to his grandma's side before she died, he was hoping to physically see her body before she was buried. Lots of the family was there. Sean and April and their family came out from Pennsylvania, Josh and Carrie came from Chicago, Martha, Tim and Deb Butler, Roger and Mary Butler, Kala Butler, and many others. Aunt Joyce was having a tough time, stroking her mom's hand and face, almost climbing into the casket at times, crying. It was hard to see her. Her emotions came in waves, being OK for awhile and crying at times.
Our kids ran around with all their cousins and said they were having a good time. The time went slowly, and we left at 8 pm.
Dave talked with his sister Lisa on the phone that night, and she was really having a tough time with not being able to go to the funeral and be with family. We got on the internet quick and found a very inexpensive ticket and bought it for just her (not her family) to come to MN for one night and leave the next day. The Lord worked that out beautifully, with a great price and a good schedule for travel. She was in Minnesota by 10 am the next morning, and we picked her up from the airport. Sunday afternoon we all met at a restaurant called Rockwoods in Elk River. It was grandma's favorite lunch place to go, so we all met there in her honor. After lunch, with nowhere to go until the funeral (the hotel was 30 miles from where we were) we decided to head up to the meeting hall in Anoka and let the kids play in the nursery/toy area until it started. That worked out pretty well, as all the cousins had a great time playing together.
The funeral was really nice. (I am picking up updating this post from weeks ago, I can't really remember all the details!) Joyce got up and said a poem she wrote. Dave shared a few things about experiences with his grandma, Sean spoke a little bit, then Aunt Laura shared Grandma Butler's last moments. Songs were sung, we sang loudly the doxolgy, and then it was over. I spent most of the rest of the day in the child care room watching the kids play after the funeral at the Trott Brook meeting hall - Dave was tied up talking with his family, which I was totally fine with - there were so many people there he loves to talk with and many who he hadn't connected with in years. Kala stayed with me and talked for awhile. April was in there with us too off and on.
That night the kids went swimming at the hotel, and a few people came to our hotel to hang out. Lisa got to spend time with two childhood friends, LeAnne Canner and Carrie (chmura) Rowe. Dave's cousins Brad and Kyle were there, and Jeff came too. Everybody was hungry...so we ordered pizza...and the night got really late. As I ate pizza in the lobby of the hotel, Calvin fell asleep in my lap. We said our goodbyes and got everybody to bed pretty quick.
I think Monday we drove home...I don't remember when or what time we left. At this point its all a blur! We took Lisa to the airport in the afternoon (we had a 1 pm check out) and drove back to CF, with a short stop in Mason City to visit Grandma Jo. We met up at a small coffee shop near East Park, got some drinks, and let the kids run around the park for an hour. Short and sweet visit, and got back on the road. It felt like an entire day of travel!
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Alright...so now that I've unpacked, completed 5 loads of laundry, caught up with the financial software after a month of being behind and balanced three bank accounts, loaded and unloaded the dishwasher a few times, and got back into the rhythm of being at home...I am going to sit down and blog a little. Violet is watching a Jake and the Neverland Pirates video on the other computer, Calvin is sleeping, and Vanessa just woke up and is playing on the floor. I might have 20 minutes...but we'll see how this goes.
I mention that Dave's grandma got sick quickly and died with in two days of feeling sick. We tried making it up to MN in time to see her before she died, but we didn't quite make it. She died around 6 pm on Thursday (Apr 28) of last week. After hearing about her last minutes from family members, it was evident it was His plan we didn't make it. Grandma Butler's daughter Joyce had said her goodbyes around 3:30 and went home with Aunt Sara (Dave's cousin). Dave's Aunt Laura had spent the last 48 hours with Grandma Butler in the hospital with her, never leaving her side....even slept on the hospital room floor Wed night after she was admitted. Aunt Laura shared some of her last moments with her mother when she spoke at the funeral. Aunt Laura shared that she has had a very rough few years with her mom since she moved to Minnesota. Grandma Butler has been quite rough and grumpy towards her (while suffering from dementia, not remembering much) all the time that Laura had tried to lovingly care for her. Some of the things said by grandma were pretty mean, and most of it was because she did not know why she was being put where she was, and being separated from her daughter (Joyce) who she had always lived with before. Aunt Laura was taking this pretty tough because I can only imagine how hurtful it would be to have your mother speak to you the way she did.
Laura shared some things that Grandma Butler said during her last few moments before she died. It was almost as if to the degree that she was dying, her soft, sweet and loving side started to show through all the tough skin. She said she loved all her children so much. She told Aunt Laura she loved her. She even had a sense of humor with her as Aunt Laura slept on the hospital room floor Wednesday night. She told her "Well its been a long time since we've had a sleep over!" and as she was sleeping, she woke up and said "I've been to glory, and its beautiful!" and then she didn't breathe anymore and died. Laura said she received healing from those sweet moments with her mom, knowing that she was loved, but she said she was sad she isn't able to know and learn more about this sweet lady she exposed the last day of her life.
Friday was a "normal" day for us. With no funeral arrangements made immediately, Dave got to work in the hotel, and I had the kids to myself. After breakfast, I took all of them to the hotel pool for a few hours before lunch. Vanessa sat in a stroller munching on goldfish crackers, and Violet and Calvin swam with their life jackets on. Violet wants to learn how to swim so badly, and even tried but knew she couldn't...so she left on her life jacket. Calvin stayed near the steps the whole time and didn't "let" his life jacket let him float so he could swim...he just splashed water the whole time.
All 3 kids took naps (swimming wears ya out!) in the hotel room (which, i should explain, was REALLY nice, it was a 3 bedroom suite, with one room having 2 queens, a living room/kitchen area, and a separate king size bed in another room...alltogether 2 bathrooms. While the kids slept I tried to rest. Dave finished up working later in the evening.
Saturday the visitation was scheduled from 5-7, with a private family viewing from 4-5 pm. We had quite a bit of time to kill so we decided to drive down to the Mall of America, thinking the kids would enjoy legoland. Well...there was a view of the amusement park right next to legoland, and the sights and sounds of rollercoasters flying by captured their interest WAY more than legos. We decided to buy some points to go on some rides in the park, and that took up all the time we had. From 10-2:30 we took them on lots of different rides. Lots of little truck rides, car races, roller coasters, the ferris wheel, blow-up jumping things, etc....you name it...they had A BLAST. They know the park as "legoland" because that is what we told them we were going to, so the name stuck. They want to go back to "legoland!" again! It is no longer "Camp Snoopy" as I fondly remember it being when I was younger. It is now "Nickelodean Universe" and all the rides are Dora the Explorer, Swiper the Fox, Spongebob, etc. Violet was brave enough to go on a roller coaster with me. There was a new crazy upside down twirly roller coaster that Dave and I each went on separately. We got lunch on the way home (we stopped at Panera) and quickly changed our clothes and headed over to the viewing. The casket was open, which Dave was glad for. Since he couldn't make it to his grandma's side before she died, he was hoping to physically see her body before she was buried. Lots of the family was there. Sean and April and their family came out from Pennsylvania, Josh and Carrie came from Chicago, Martha, Tim and Deb Butler, Roger and Mary Butler, Kala Butler, and many others. Aunt Joyce was having a tough time, stroking her mom's hand and face, almost climbing into the casket at times, crying. It was hard to see her. Her emotions came in waves, being OK for awhile and crying at times.
Our kids ran around with all their cousins and said they were having a good time. The time went slowly, and we left at 8 pm.
Dave talked with his sister Lisa on the phone that night, and she was really having a tough time with not being able to go to the funeral and be with family. We got on the internet quick and found a very inexpensive ticket and bought it for just her (not her family) to come to MN for one night and leave the next day. The Lord worked that out beautifully, with a great price and a good schedule for travel. She was in Minnesota by 10 am the next morning, and we picked her up from the airport. Sunday afternoon we all met at a restaurant called Rockwoods in Elk River. It was grandma's favorite lunch place to go, so we all met there in her honor. After lunch, with nowhere to go until the funeral (the hotel was 30 miles from where we were) we decided to head up to the meeting hall in Anoka and let the kids play in the nursery/toy area until it started. That worked out pretty well, as all the cousins had a great time playing together.
The funeral was really nice. (I am picking up updating this post from weeks ago, I can't really remember all the details!) Joyce got up and said a poem she wrote. Dave shared a few things about experiences with his grandma, Sean spoke a little bit, then Aunt Laura shared Grandma Butler's last moments. Songs were sung, we sang loudly the doxolgy, and then it was over. I spent most of the rest of the day in the child care room watching the kids play after the funeral at the Trott Brook meeting hall - Dave was tied up talking with his family, which I was totally fine with - there were so many people there he loves to talk with and many who he hadn't connected with in years. Kala stayed with me and talked for awhile. April was in there with us too off and on.
That night the kids went swimming at the hotel, and a few people came to our hotel to hang out. Lisa got to spend time with two childhood friends, LeAnne Canner and Carrie (chmura) Rowe. Dave's cousins Brad and Kyle were there, and Jeff came too. Everybody was hungry...so we ordered pizza...and the night got really late. As I ate pizza in the lobby of the hotel, Calvin fell asleep in my lap. We said our goodbyes and got everybody to bed pretty quick.
I think Monday we drove home...I don't remember when or what time we left. At this point its all a blur! We took Lisa to the airport in the afternoon (we had a 1 pm check out) and drove back to CF, with a short stop in Mason City to visit Grandma Jo. We met up at a small coffee shop near East Park, got some drinks, and let the kids run around the park for an hour. Short and sweet visit, and got back on the road. It felt like an entire day of travel!
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