She will be 14 months when she wakes up tomorrow morning. I don't know how much she weighs, but I can tell she is gaining, because she's starting to feel like a lug instead of a little baby in my arm.
I nursed her for the last time last night before bed. Today was the first full day of not nursing at all. I think she's ready to be done, I'm not producing much and I don't want her to grow into being an older toddler and wanting to nurse, so its time to stop. It is always sad for me when I nurse, because it is something I enjoy. But this little girl is turning into a crazy sweet little goofy girl and I'm excited to see her keep changing as time goes on.
She is an odd eater. She has moments of being super picky, and times when she can shove anything in sight into her mouth and swallow it. She doesn't like oatmeal like the other two kids. She loves raisins, cold cereal soaked in milk (favorite is honey nut cheerios), bananas, peaches, cooked carrots, granola bars, toast with jelly or peanut butter, applesauce, yogurt, cheese chunks, and noodles. I know there's more, but those tend to be her staples. She also loves anything out of a straw sippy cup - whole milk, water, or watered down juice on occasion.
She loves playing peekaboo, carrying two blankets around (one in each hand), and relocating any important object of mine to mysterious locations around the house. I found my flip flops in the little doll baby crib upstairs in the hallway last week. She likes to snag the kitchen towels off the bar by the stove. She's also a cabinet handle grabber, investigating any cabinet items she is not supposed to be into. She does NOT like to be sectioned off or shut into a room alone. Sometimes Violet and Calvin will pick her up and move her so she's "not in their way" and she doesn't like it one bit.
She is pretty ticklish too. I painted her toenails for the first time yesterday. Violet thought that was pretty cute.
Her 7th tooth came in, a right molar.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Lincoln Family Reunion - Smithville, TN July 2011
so far this is going to be a "in order in the events" blog for my reminder, I'll fill in the details later.
Rented a vehicle for the trip (new Buick Enclave) because our van needed some work and wasn't reliable.
-left Wednesday evening, around 5:45. It was a mad rush to get ready because I was alone with the kids and frustrated trying to pack up waiting for Dave to drive home from MN. Had LC pizza for supper before leaving, froze extras.
- drove to St. Louis, I drove the whole way, Dave worked in the car on his laptop using his Verizon internet connection. We booked our hotel while driving, since we weren't exactly sure where we were going to stop. We stopped at the Collinsville Hampton Inn around midnight, got checked in, and got kids to bed asap.
Thursday:
The next morning we got breakfast, then let the kid swim in the pool for a short time.
Back on the road after reconfiguring the car seats in the truck so Violet could help take care of Vanessa - both girls were in the third row. We made a deal with each kid that after lunch, if they took a nap in the car, they could watch a movie. Grandma Jo got each kid a portable movie player, which for the kids, made the car an attractive ride. Made a few stops for food and bathroom breaks, arrived in Smithville, TN around 7 pm, checked out the cabin at Lakeside Resort (nice!) and drove over to Lydia's lake cabin for dinner. She served BBQ ribs, cornbread, salad and fruit pizza-pie. Carol was there with her 4 kids, my kids took well to the De'Felice kids. Vanessa clutched me the entire time, wouldn't go to anybody. She warmed up after an hour of hanging onto me and walked around for awhile. Night got late, so we got back in the truck and decided to make a run to the local Walmart to get a few groceries. Violet came with me, my sis, and my parents. We wandered up and down the aisles to get some stuff...coffee, milk, eggs, fruit, lunch meat, yogurt, peanut butter, bread....Dave came inside with Calvin and Vanessa to use the bathroom, I picked up a sippy cup for Vanessa, paid...then we left to head back to the cabin and put the kids to bed. Vanessa slept in the portable crib in the closet of the room Violet and Calvin shared.
Friday:
Woke up, mom was making kids breakfast. She had gotten Vanessa up too. We talked about what to do and decided on hiking in Burgess Falls. Mom, dad, Rachel left before us, we got there and hiked the paths that were bumpy, uphill, downhill, around curves, up steps, down steps, and at moments had scenic overlooks that featured waterfalls, it was beautiful. The moving water roared. I discovered half way through our little hike that Vanessa's diaper was very messy...and I was with no diaper bag. I threw away what I could, we washed her off with water from a bottled water, and she went diaperless the whole walk back.
Ate lunch at cabin, sandwiches and fruit. Kids napped. My mom and sister Rachel went to a nearby arts and crafts museum and looked at all the stuff on display. Mom bought a painted clay plate that featured a landscape with hay bales. On the way back we stopped at Hurricane Bridge and took some pictures of the scenery. We decided to check out the resort's pool, so after they woke up from their naps, we took the kids swimming at the swimming pool, it was incredibly warm water. Not much of a relief on a hot day. But the kids had fun. I had to coax Calvin to get in the water with me. Friday evening was at Lydia's, she served dinner at 7, fried catfish and chicken, french fries, hushpuppies, corn on the cob, and lemon cake for dessert.
That night we got back to our cabin very late, I moved Vanessa into our room. She slept terriby, waking up to scream every couple hours. Every time I picked her up to comfort her she clutched to me super tightly and didn't want me to let her go.
Saturday was our designated day to rent pontoon boats and hang out on the lake all day.
I put two french braids in Violet's hair. We packed up our stuff and headed for the marina at the resort waiting for Lydia and others to drive up with the pontoon boats they rented for the day. We all got on and all 3 boats drove to a smaller cove by the shore, anchored and tied together. Violet and Calvin both got in the water, both wearing life jackets. Calvin wanted someone to hold him the whole time, he jumped right into Jacklyn's arms. Violet was happy to swim on her own with her life jacket all over the place. Vanessa was really cranky, and took a nap in her stroller. While she slept, I got in the water with everybody else. Danny and Dana brought their ski boat and took Dave and I waterskiing. Mark and Susan brought their ski boat too, they took others out skiing.
Violet got a chance to try waterskiing. She held onto a bar that attached to the boat and put on child size skis and Dave helped her get going, she held on for a few moments til her skis fell off. She was scared to let go of the bar on the boat but got over that fear when she realized the boat could turn around and come back to get her. I was proud of her for being brave and trying it.
I ended up with Violet and Calvin at some point in Mark and Susan's boat on the way back to the resort boat slips to pick up our packaged lunches. We collected 40 box lunches and came back to the rest and we all ate lunch together on the boats.
The boating came to an end a few hours after lunch, we had all had enough swimming and sun. We headed back to our cabin and the walk UP the hill was long and hard, both kids were exhausted and wanted to be held, which was tough. It was hard enough pushing a stroller up a 45 degree hill. We made it...and the kids immediately got changed and fell asleep in their beds for a long nap. We had to wake them up around 6:30 to get dressed to head over to Mark and Susan's house for dinner. Violet and Vanessa wore their yellow dresses. Mark's house was hard to find, lots of twisty roads and difficult directions, but we made it. Very gorgeous house, it had a perfect view of the lake. They served pulled pork sandwiches, a variety of salads, watermelon, and brownies. Kids enjoyed running around with the other kids, Violet and Lily hung out a lot. Violet told me when they got together for the first time at Lydia's the first night "Mom, I think we're friends." :) Mark let off three chinese lanterns into the dark night sky, which floated up high and eventually disappeared. It was a great place to end up in a conversation with anybody that walked by. Vanessa continued to be a mama's girl, not wanting to hang out with anybody except me.
The night got late, we left after dark, and went back to the cabin to put the kids to sleep. After they went to bed, Rachel re-taught me how to play cribbage, and Dave picked up on it too. Dave's first hand he ended up scoring 24 points, a crazy high record, but ended up losing the game. My dad sat next to me and advised me of my next moves but Rachel won the game.
Sunday was a "whatever" day. Nothing was planned, we did have a plan to leave for St. Louis but didn't have a set time. We ate breakfast in the cabin, I did some laundry, packed up our stuff, loaded the car (this all took hours), and went to Lydia's to hang out and say goodbyes. She was emptying her fridge of all the leftovers so we helped her and ate lunch there. Kids played with their dogs, throwing the ball and playing fetch.
My mom and dad and Rachel all had plans to stay in Nashville before their flights out in the morning, so we all caravaned to Nashville and found a local ice cream shop and ate treats together called Pied Piper Creamery. It was only an hour from Smithville to Nashville, I rode with mom and Rachel in their car, Dad rode with Dave and the kids. Nice to have some "girl" time in the car!
Our drive back to St. Louis I think was uneventful. I thought we were never going to get out of Nashville, because before we got on the highway, we had to stop and change Vanessa's diaper twice. We told the kids once they had eaten supper and taken a nap, then they could watch movies. That plan usually worked well, they did just that, and settled into watch Veggie Tales and Thomas the Train. I think Vanessa took a nap, I don't remember much of the drive, other than it was long. I worked on booking a hotel room in the passenger seat, Dave drove. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Edwardsville (just east of St. Louis) and the night went smoothly.
Monday morning after breakfast we let the kids swim before taking off for Iowa. Dave was in the pool with Violet, Calvin just stayed near the steps, and Vanessa stayed in the stroller. Dave worked with Violet on swimming, and helped her a lot. He told her to hold her breath and she'd float, which gave her confidence to swim on her own across the pool. By the time she was done, she had jumped in the deep end all by herself, rose to the top, and swam back to the edge. She was floating on her back, swimming backwards, going under water, just swimming like a little fish, I could tell she was elated and excited with her new swimming ability. I'm glad she had that time to get some swimming in because we've been in swimming lessons all week at The Falls, and the class I signed her up into has her doing underwater bobs, back and front floats, kicking, swimming, and all sorts of things I think she may have been uncomfortable doing had she hadn't gained that swimming confidence the weekend prior.
So we got back to Iowa sometime around 5 or 6 in the evening. Lots of stops later, food and bathroom breaks....we made it. Home sweet home. And a week of catch up. I had so much to do...laundry, open stacks of mail, meal plan and go shopping because we didn't have much in our cupboards, catch up on finances and balance the checkbook, write my blog so I didn't forget what we did, get ready for the next week full of swimming lessons, it has been a solid week of returning to "normal operations" since coming back. But it was all worth it!!
FYI:
Those I can remember who came to the family event:
-Lydia and Paul Kingsborough (Lydia is my Grandma Rowena's sister)
-Grandma Rowena Hardinger
-Ruth Hardinger and Michael Norton
-Rachel Hardinger
-Jon and Joanne Hardinger
-Angelo and Carol De'Felice and their 4 kids: Jacklyn, Caroline, Christopher, and Nicholas
-Danny Deislinger and Dana Abraham and their 2 kids, Jared and Alexis
-Lucy Abraham (my Grandma's sister)
-Bob and Ashley Abraham and their two kids, Lily and Rex
-Scott and Jill Kingsborough and their son, Cole
-Mark and Susan Lincoln
-Deen and Carol Lincoln
-Ben and Pollye Lincoln
Rented a vehicle for the trip (new Buick Enclave) because our van needed some work and wasn't reliable.
-left Wednesday evening, around 5:45. It was a mad rush to get ready because I was alone with the kids and frustrated trying to pack up waiting for Dave to drive home from MN. Had LC pizza for supper before leaving, froze extras.
- drove to St. Louis, I drove the whole way, Dave worked in the car on his laptop using his Verizon internet connection. We booked our hotel while driving, since we weren't exactly sure where we were going to stop. We stopped at the Collinsville Hampton Inn around midnight, got checked in, and got kids to bed asap.
Thursday:
The next morning we got breakfast, then let the kid swim in the pool for a short time.
Back on the road after reconfiguring the car seats in the truck so Violet could help take care of Vanessa - both girls were in the third row. We made a deal with each kid that after lunch, if they took a nap in the car, they could watch a movie. Grandma Jo got each kid a portable movie player, which for the kids, made the car an attractive ride. Made a few stops for food and bathroom breaks, arrived in Smithville, TN around 7 pm, checked out the cabin at Lakeside Resort (nice!) and drove over to Lydia's lake cabin for dinner. She served BBQ ribs, cornbread, salad and fruit pizza-pie. Carol was there with her 4 kids, my kids took well to the De'Felice kids. Vanessa clutched me the entire time, wouldn't go to anybody. She warmed up after an hour of hanging onto me and walked around for awhile. Night got late, so we got back in the truck and decided to make a run to the local Walmart to get a few groceries. Violet came with me, my sis, and my parents. We wandered up and down the aisles to get some stuff...coffee, milk, eggs, fruit, lunch meat, yogurt, peanut butter, bread....Dave came inside with Calvin and Vanessa to use the bathroom, I picked up a sippy cup for Vanessa, paid...then we left to head back to the cabin and put the kids to bed. Vanessa slept in the portable crib in the closet of the room Violet and Calvin shared.
Friday:
Woke up, mom was making kids breakfast. She had gotten Vanessa up too. We talked about what to do and decided on hiking in Burgess Falls. Mom, dad, Rachel left before us, we got there and hiked the paths that were bumpy, uphill, downhill, around curves, up steps, down steps, and at moments had scenic overlooks that featured waterfalls, it was beautiful. The moving water roared. I discovered half way through our little hike that Vanessa's diaper was very messy...and I was with no diaper bag. I threw away what I could, we washed her off with water from a bottled water, and she went diaperless the whole walk back.
Ate lunch at cabin, sandwiches and fruit. Kids napped. My mom and sister Rachel went to a nearby arts and crafts museum and looked at all the stuff on display. Mom bought a painted clay plate that featured a landscape with hay bales. On the way back we stopped at Hurricane Bridge and took some pictures of the scenery. We decided to check out the resort's pool, so after they woke up from their naps, we took the kids swimming at the swimming pool, it was incredibly warm water. Not much of a relief on a hot day. But the kids had fun. I had to coax Calvin to get in the water with me. Friday evening was at Lydia's, she served dinner at 7, fried catfish and chicken, french fries, hushpuppies, corn on the cob, and lemon cake for dessert.
That night we got back to our cabin very late, I moved Vanessa into our room. She slept terriby, waking up to scream every couple hours. Every time I picked her up to comfort her she clutched to me super tightly and didn't want me to let her go.
Saturday was our designated day to rent pontoon boats and hang out on the lake all day.
I put two french braids in Violet's hair. We packed up our stuff and headed for the marina at the resort waiting for Lydia and others to drive up with the pontoon boats they rented for the day. We all got on and all 3 boats drove to a smaller cove by the shore, anchored and tied together. Violet and Calvin both got in the water, both wearing life jackets. Calvin wanted someone to hold him the whole time, he jumped right into Jacklyn's arms. Violet was happy to swim on her own with her life jacket all over the place. Vanessa was really cranky, and took a nap in her stroller. While she slept, I got in the water with everybody else. Danny and Dana brought their ski boat and took Dave and I waterskiing. Mark and Susan brought their ski boat too, they took others out skiing.
Violet got a chance to try waterskiing. She held onto a bar that attached to the boat and put on child size skis and Dave helped her get going, she held on for a few moments til her skis fell off. She was scared to let go of the bar on the boat but got over that fear when she realized the boat could turn around and come back to get her. I was proud of her for being brave and trying it.
I ended up with Violet and Calvin at some point in Mark and Susan's boat on the way back to the resort boat slips to pick up our packaged lunches. We collected 40 box lunches and came back to the rest and we all ate lunch together on the boats.
The boating came to an end a few hours after lunch, we had all had enough swimming and sun. We headed back to our cabin and the walk UP the hill was long and hard, both kids were exhausted and wanted to be held, which was tough. It was hard enough pushing a stroller up a 45 degree hill. We made it...and the kids immediately got changed and fell asleep in their beds for a long nap. We had to wake them up around 6:30 to get dressed to head over to Mark and Susan's house for dinner. Violet and Vanessa wore their yellow dresses. Mark's house was hard to find, lots of twisty roads and difficult directions, but we made it. Very gorgeous house, it had a perfect view of the lake. They served pulled pork sandwiches, a variety of salads, watermelon, and brownies. Kids enjoyed running around with the other kids, Violet and Lily hung out a lot. Violet told me when they got together for the first time at Lydia's the first night "Mom, I think we're friends." :) Mark let off three chinese lanterns into the dark night sky, which floated up high and eventually disappeared. It was a great place to end up in a conversation with anybody that walked by. Vanessa continued to be a mama's girl, not wanting to hang out with anybody except me.
The night got late, we left after dark, and went back to the cabin to put the kids to sleep. After they went to bed, Rachel re-taught me how to play cribbage, and Dave picked up on it too. Dave's first hand he ended up scoring 24 points, a crazy high record, but ended up losing the game. My dad sat next to me and advised me of my next moves but Rachel won the game.
Sunday was a "whatever" day. Nothing was planned, we did have a plan to leave for St. Louis but didn't have a set time. We ate breakfast in the cabin, I did some laundry, packed up our stuff, loaded the car (this all took hours), and went to Lydia's to hang out and say goodbyes. She was emptying her fridge of all the leftovers so we helped her and ate lunch there. Kids played with their dogs, throwing the ball and playing fetch.
My mom and dad and Rachel all had plans to stay in Nashville before their flights out in the morning, so we all caravaned to Nashville and found a local ice cream shop and ate treats together called Pied Piper Creamery. It was only an hour from Smithville to Nashville, I rode with mom and Rachel in their car, Dad rode with Dave and the kids. Nice to have some "girl" time in the car!
Our drive back to St. Louis I think was uneventful. I thought we were never going to get out of Nashville, because before we got on the highway, we had to stop and change Vanessa's diaper twice. We told the kids once they had eaten supper and taken a nap, then they could watch movies. That plan usually worked well, they did just that, and settled into watch Veggie Tales and Thomas the Train. I think Vanessa took a nap, I don't remember much of the drive, other than it was long. I worked on booking a hotel room in the passenger seat, Dave drove. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Edwardsville (just east of St. Louis) and the night went smoothly.
Monday morning after breakfast we let the kids swim before taking off for Iowa. Dave was in the pool with Violet, Calvin just stayed near the steps, and Vanessa stayed in the stroller. Dave worked with Violet on swimming, and helped her a lot. He told her to hold her breath and she'd float, which gave her confidence to swim on her own across the pool. By the time she was done, she had jumped in the deep end all by herself, rose to the top, and swam back to the edge. She was floating on her back, swimming backwards, going under water, just swimming like a little fish, I could tell she was elated and excited with her new swimming ability. I'm glad she had that time to get some swimming in because we've been in swimming lessons all week at The Falls, and the class I signed her up into has her doing underwater bobs, back and front floats, kicking, swimming, and all sorts of things I think she may have been uncomfortable doing had she hadn't gained that swimming confidence the weekend prior.
So we got back to Iowa sometime around 5 or 6 in the evening. Lots of stops later, food and bathroom breaks....we made it. Home sweet home. And a week of catch up. I had so much to do...laundry, open stacks of mail, meal plan and go shopping because we didn't have much in our cupboards, catch up on finances and balance the checkbook, write my blog so I didn't forget what we did, get ready for the next week full of swimming lessons, it has been a solid week of returning to "normal operations" since coming back. But it was all worth it!!
FYI:
Those I can remember who came to the family event:
-Lydia and Paul Kingsborough (Lydia is my Grandma Rowena's sister)
-Grandma Rowena Hardinger
-Ruth Hardinger and Michael Norton
-Rachel Hardinger
-Jon and Joanne Hardinger
-Angelo and Carol De'Felice and their 4 kids: Jacklyn, Caroline, Christopher, and Nicholas
-Danny Deislinger and Dana Abraham and their 2 kids, Jared and Alexis
-Lucy Abraham (my Grandma's sister)
-Bob and Ashley Abraham and their two kids, Lily and Rex
-Scott and Jill Kingsborough and their son, Cole
-Mark and Susan Lincoln
-Deen and Carol Lincoln
-Ben and Pollye Lincoln
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
My morning conversation with Calvin
Gotta love the randomness of my 3 1/2 hr old little boy. Bright and early, before breakfast:
Calvin: "Mom, can I have some minty gum?"
Me: "No"
Calvin: "Ok, I'll catch dust then." - then proceeded to try catch dust flecks in the air for 10 minutes
Calvin: "Mom, can I have some minty gum?"
Me: "No"
Calvin: "Ok, I'll catch dust then." - then proceeded to try catch dust flecks in the air for 10 minutes
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Vanessa is officially a walker 100% of the time
She is now on her feet nearly every single time I turn around and see her. She walks with more confidence, falling very little now, and can stand up anywhere in the middle of a room. Its still crazy to me to see her up and walking!! Just a few weeks ago she was crawling everywhere.
Dave found this quote and I think its so true: "Trying to clean up a house with kids running around is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an oreo cookie."
Vanessa is into EVERYTHING...I simply can not keep up. The three kids are like a tornado moving any object that is moveable to somewhere else. Toys everywhere, papers I thought were in one place are in another, etc. I found one of my flip flops that I wear frequently upstairs in the hallway inside a baby doll crib. I blame that one on Vanessa. I used to be really on top of picking up toys and getting all the little pieces that go together in the right spot or container, putting every puzzle piece in the right spot...but MAN that is seemingly impossible lately.
Dave found this quote and I think its so true: "Trying to clean up a house with kids running around is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an oreo cookie."
Vanessa is into EVERYTHING...I simply can not keep up. The three kids are like a tornado moving any object that is moveable to somewhere else. Toys everywhere, papers I thought were in one place are in another, etc. I found one of my flip flops that I wear frequently upstairs in the hallway inside a baby doll crib. I blame that one on Vanessa. I used to be really on top of picking up toys and getting all the little pieces that go together in the right spot or container, putting every puzzle piece in the right spot...but MAN that is seemingly impossible lately.
Violet is obsessed with soft hair and clicking
Violet's latest "obsessions" are soft hair and clicking or clucking her tongue. I don't have a clue where the tongue clucking came from, but if she's not eating or talking, her tongue is moving in her mouth making a constant clucking noise. Depending on my mood, it is either incredibly irritating or really funny.
She is also really concerned about her hair being soft and tangle free. She likes to feel it with her hands and "pet" her head where it is soft and exclaim how soft it is, and wants me to feel it all the time. She really enjoys her soft hair after it is dry after a bath. When its tangly, she gets upset.
She is also really concerned about her hair being soft and tangle free. She likes to feel it with her hands and "pet" her head where it is soft and exclaim how soft it is, and wants me to feel it all the time. She really enjoys her soft hair after it is dry after a bath. When its tangly, she gets upset.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Summer stuff
The inflatable pool on the deck has become a favorite thing lately for Violet and Calvin. The day I stopped insisting they play in their swimsuits and let them swim in their underwear was the day they started loving swimming. I fill it up frequently for them with hot water using the hose and the hot water spigot from the garage, and they will spend many hours splashing and playing. It is sort of deep, probably 2 feet, but enough for Violet to "swim" without touching the bottom. She likes putting on her goggles and Calvin just simply likes to splash and jump. They jump into the pool off the little plastic picnic table they call their "diving board". Calvin is always asking me if he can swim in his wet undies.
Another new thing is we tried putting Calvin and Violet together in Violet's room again. We tried it last summer when they were 4 and 2, and Calvin was too immature to handle the togetherness, he kept getting out of his bed and messing with stuff. This year is better - the transition was motivated by the kids BOTH complaining about sleeping alone. We had spent a couple nights at the Amana Colonies last weekend and they shared a bed and loved it. The first night home they were both in tears about sleeping in their beds in a room alone...so we thought this might be a good time to make the switch. If this continues to go smoothly for a few weeks we'll move Vanessa's crib to Calvin's room and have a dedicated guest room again.
They have shared a room for the last 3 nights, and so far so good. Calvin always wakes up first, and depending on how deep Violet is sleeping, she might wake up, she might not.
Giggling their heads off because they discovered how to flop backwards and get their heads wet while eating a snack.
Another new thing is we tried putting Calvin and Violet together in Violet's room again. We tried it last summer when they were 4 and 2, and Calvin was too immature to handle the togetherness, he kept getting out of his bed and messing with stuff. This year is better - the transition was motivated by the kids BOTH complaining about sleeping alone. We had spent a couple nights at the Amana Colonies last weekend and they shared a bed and loved it. The first night home they were both in tears about sleeping in their beds in a room alone...so we thought this might be a good time to make the switch. If this continues to go smoothly for a few weeks we'll move Vanessa's crib to Calvin's room and have a dedicated guest room again.
They have shared a room for the last 3 nights, and so far so good. Calvin always wakes up first, and depending on how deep Violet is sleeping, she might wake up, she might not.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Amana Colonies - July 8-10, 2010
Our family packed up and went to the Amana Colonies last weekend to visit my Grandma Rowena and two ladies from Germany, Anna and her daughter Miriam. Anna was a foreign exchanged student who lived at Grandpa Loren and Grandma Rowena's house back in the 1970s. I met her once when I took a trip to Germany and Austria when I was 15, but I barely remember meeting her.
My Grandma Row is a big advocate and leader getting the family together. I can't really say we were brimming with excitement about making the trip there, but it turned out to be a nicer weekend than we expected. The bed and breakfast where we stayed was really nice, the room was big and spacious, the kids slept well, and breakfast was delicious. We found things to do on Saturday (furniture shop, broom making factory, park for the kids, nice cafe for lunch, and naps). Fri and Sat dinners were together with the family at two different restaurants there, both were great.
Anna and Miriam brought us little things from Germany (mouse pads, wood toys for the kids, plastic figurines of the pedestrian traffic signals in Germany), and Mama Rowena had a little "Christmas in July" for the kids, she brought them presents all wrapped up. They were puppets - a Llama for Violet, a dragon for Calvin (which he thought was real), and a little squirrel for Vanessa.
We made the trip back home early Sunday morning to make it back to Bethany Bible Chapel by 10:30 so Dave could teach his SS class.
My Grandma Row is a big advocate and leader getting the family together. I can't really say we were brimming with excitement about making the trip there, but it turned out to be a nicer weekend than we expected. The bed and breakfast where we stayed was really nice, the room was big and spacious, the kids slept well, and breakfast was delicious. We found things to do on Saturday (furniture shop, broom making factory, park for the kids, nice cafe for lunch, and naps). Fri and Sat dinners were together with the family at two different restaurants there, both were great.
Anna and Miriam brought us little things from Germany (mouse pads, wood toys for the kids, plastic figurines of the pedestrian traffic signals in Germany), and Mama Rowena had a little "Christmas in July" for the kids, she brought them presents all wrapped up. They were puppets - a Llama for Violet, a dragon for Calvin (which he thought was real), and a little squirrel for Vanessa.
We made the trip back home early Sunday morning to make it back to Bethany Bible Chapel by 10:30 so Dave could teach his SS class.
Friday, July 08, 2011
Overheard this conversation:
Calvin: Violet, I'm wearing a muscle shirt. I'm all strong and mighty!
Violet: Yea!
Calvin: And you're wearing a muscle shirt too! (she was wearing a sleeveless dress) No wait, you're a princess!
Violet: yeah!
Calvin: I go wike dis (then pretends to flex muscles).
Violet: And I go like this! (dances and twirls across the room)
:D
Violet: Yea!
Calvin: And you're wearing a muscle shirt too! (she was wearing a sleeveless dress) No wait, you're a princess!
Violet: yeah!
Calvin: I go wike dis (then pretends to flex muscles).
Violet: And I go like this! (dances and twirls across the room)
:D
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Vanessa stood up on her own
Besides taking a lot more steps lately, today she stood up to standing on her own with no assistance. Good job Vanessa!
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Violet sang the National Anthem for BBC today
She got the chance to sing the Star Spangled Banner again for BBC today for special music. We asked Mark W. to accompany her on the piano this time (last year was solo). She did so great, I was very proud of her. She wanted Dave to stand up there with her but he convinced her to go by herself. A few moments after she started the entire crowd stood up, which I thought would thrown her off but she kept on going. I was recording the song with my camera on the tripod from the back of the room and when the crowd stood up, I lost view, so I had to pick up the tripod and aim my best. She told me she wants to learn a different song for next time. :) Apparently she is star-spangled-out. This year was different how she responded to people compared to last year. She barely acknowledged people complimenting her, this year she would say a little "thanks". So that is improvement.
Saturday, July 02, 2011
My 30th birthday
I had the priviledge of turning 30 years old last week Wednesday. It was a fantastic day. Dave got up early and cooked me a yummy breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns). We helped out with the younger kid's games at BBC's VBS program, then had plans to spend the afternoon at Lost Island Waterpark. My friend Julie heard our plans and offered to watch Vanessa for us so we could more easily enjoy the time with the two older, more capable kids. That was a wonderful present. I set up Vanessa's portable crib in Julie's house and she took a long 2 hr nap. Julie got her up and played with her for another hour until we picked her up. Julie said Vanessa wouldn't let her out of her sight.
As soon as I laid Vanessa down for a nap at Julie's, we left for the waterpark in Waterloo. We parked int he parking lot there, got the kids changed into their suits, rubbed them thoroughly with sunblock, and decided to eat lunch there first. After some cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches, we were "lost" in Lost Island not really knowing where to start. We bounced on floaties in the wave pool at first. Violet enjoyed that a lot. We wanted to find some rides that the kids could go on, so we wandered around figuring out the layout of everything there was to do there. Violet and I found a "rollercoaster" style ride we went on together. Dave took Calvin down another one. Violet got to sit right in the front seat of the floaty-boat and I was right behind her. It was pretty fun!! We went up, down, around circles, curves, in dark tunnels, got sprayed with water the whole time (which was kindof annoying with my contacts, had to nearly squeeze my eyes shut the whole time), and came to a quick halt at the end of the ride. Violet was giggling hysterically - amazed at the ride. She loved it!
We met up with Dave and Calvin, and found out they had found another ride to go on that was kid appropriate. We explored many other areas - and found a little slide that the kids could go on alone - but the water was pretty deep so I waited at the bottom to catch them. Calvin needed catching, Violet did not. She could touch in the water and insisted on doing EVERYTHING by herself. She even instructed me to stand away from the end of the slide so I could watch her from afar. Calvin clung to either Dave or I in any deep water - he was a bit more fearful.
We moved on to more slides the kids would enjoy. We found one (yellow) that all of us could sit in together and go down.
The time went quick. We left at 4:15 pm to go pick up Vanessa. We got her, came home, and Dave pulled the cake out of the fridge he and the kids had made the night before (I was at a meeting out of the house and went shopping late at night so I wasn't home). The cake was yellow and frosted with chocolate frosting and coated with M&Ms that said "Maria 30!" on it. We snapped a few pictures, ate some cake, and then Dave left for an hour with his chainsaw to help with a bunch of guys from BBC to help a lady that had a huge tree fall on her property. He came back with in the hour. He asked Noelle to babysit also, which was a surprise to me! He took me out on a date - and it was such a beautiful night that we found a restaurant on Main St. and ate our meal outside. Los Cabos makes good mexican food so we went there. We walked around Main St. for awhile, then decided to walk down by the river. We sat there for awhile, then decided going to Four Queens would wrap up the night well - I got a turtle sundae and Dave got a banana split.
Overall, it was a GREAT day. I felt very loved, adored, and I counted my blessings.
Dave pulled off another little surprise - and invited my grandma Rowena, my brother Jay, and my dad to come over on Friday night for a family birthday celebration for me. He told me about it on Thursday night. My grandma brought burgers, cheese slices, and a delicious coconut cake. My dad brought buns for the burgers, fresh peas from his garden, and Dave whipped up a macaroni salad. The only mishap of the night was the first batch of noodles for the macaroni salad had to be thrown away, because Dave found shards of glass in the noodles. He had poured the cooked macaroni into a decorative bowl that we rarely use, and sweeping the edge of the rim of the bowl he found glass chipping off. He was frustrated, but made a quick run to the store to get more noodles and other ingredients for the salad. He pulled it off and made another batch quickly. Dinner was great! Having family there was really nice too. We walked outside and talked in the gazebo, and finished the night by using the new piano instrument we got to play some songs and we danced the night away. Jay left the same night to go back home. My grandma was dancing with Calvin in his pajamas, and others paired up. The following morning I was surprised to find out I had woken up BEFORE my grandma Rowena. She got to sleep in and get a full night's rest in the dark guest room. She said she can't even remember the last time she slept in. She ate oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts for breakfast with the kids (they ate oatmeal too), and Dave cooked up another yummy breakfast - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and fresh squeeze orange juice. My dad left, and my grandma and I headed out for a little fabric shopping. I did not have a project in mind to work on, so I helped her pick out three fabrics that coordinated and will go on the alter at her church. She wanted to look for water shoes but didn't find any she liked at Scheels. We came back home, loaded up her stuff, and she took off.
Fun moments occured, sweet memories resulted.
I love my family! Thank you Lord. :)
As soon as I laid Vanessa down for a nap at Julie's, we left for the waterpark in Waterloo. We parked int he parking lot there, got the kids changed into their suits, rubbed them thoroughly with sunblock, and decided to eat lunch there first. After some cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches, we were "lost" in Lost Island not really knowing where to start. We bounced on floaties in the wave pool at first. Violet enjoyed that a lot. We wanted to find some rides that the kids could go on, so we wandered around figuring out the layout of everything there was to do there. Violet and I found a "rollercoaster" style ride we went on together. Dave took Calvin down another one. Violet got to sit right in the front seat of the floaty-boat and I was right behind her. It was pretty fun!! We went up, down, around circles, curves, in dark tunnels, got sprayed with water the whole time (which was kindof annoying with my contacts, had to nearly squeeze my eyes shut the whole time), and came to a quick halt at the end of the ride. Violet was giggling hysterically - amazed at the ride. She loved it!
We met up with Dave and Calvin, and found out they had found another ride to go on that was kid appropriate. We explored many other areas - and found a little slide that the kids could go on alone - but the water was pretty deep so I waited at the bottom to catch them. Calvin needed catching, Violet did not. She could touch in the water and insisted on doing EVERYTHING by herself. She even instructed me to stand away from the end of the slide so I could watch her from afar. Calvin clung to either Dave or I in any deep water - he was a bit more fearful.
We moved on to more slides the kids would enjoy. We found one (yellow) that all of us could sit in together and go down.
The time went quick. We left at 4:15 pm to go pick up Vanessa. We got her, came home, and Dave pulled the cake out of the fridge he and the kids had made the night before (I was at a meeting out of the house and went shopping late at night so I wasn't home). The cake was yellow and frosted with chocolate frosting and coated with M&Ms that said "Maria 30!" on it. We snapped a few pictures, ate some cake, and then Dave left for an hour with his chainsaw to help with a bunch of guys from BBC to help a lady that had a huge tree fall on her property. He came back with in the hour. He asked Noelle to babysit also, which was a surprise to me! He took me out on a date - and it was such a beautiful night that we found a restaurant on Main St. and ate our meal outside. Los Cabos makes good mexican food so we went there. We walked around Main St. for awhile, then decided to walk down by the river. We sat there for awhile, then decided going to Four Queens would wrap up the night well - I got a turtle sundae and Dave got a banana split.
Overall, it was a GREAT day. I felt very loved, adored, and I counted my blessings.
Dave pulled off another little surprise - and invited my grandma Rowena, my brother Jay, and my dad to come over on Friday night for a family birthday celebration for me. He told me about it on Thursday night. My grandma brought burgers, cheese slices, and a delicious coconut cake. My dad brought buns for the burgers, fresh peas from his garden, and Dave whipped up a macaroni salad. The only mishap of the night was the first batch of noodles for the macaroni salad had to be thrown away, because Dave found shards of glass in the noodles. He had poured the cooked macaroni into a decorative bowl that we rarely use, and sweeping the edge of the rim of the bowl he found glass chipping off. He was frustrated, but made a quick run to the store to get more noodles and other ingredients for the salad. He pulled it off and made another batch quickly. Dinner was great! Having family there was really nice too. We walked outside and talked in the gazebo, and finished the night by using the new piano instrument we got to play some songs and we danced the night away. Jay left the same night to go back home. My grandma was dancing with Calvin in his pajamas, and others paired up. The following morning I was surprised to find out I had woken up BEFORE my grandma Rowena. She got to sleep in and get a full night's rest in the dark guest room. She said she can't even remember the last time she slept in. She ate oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts for breakfast with the kids (they ate oatmeal too), and Dave cooked up another yummy breakfast - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and fresh squeeze orange juice. My dad left, and my grandma and I headed out for a little fabric shopping. I did not have a project in mind to work on, so I helped her pick out three fabrics that coordinated and will go on the alter at her church. She wanted to look for water shoes but didn't find any she liked at Scheels. We came back home, loaded up her stuff, and she took off.
Fun moments occured, sweet memories resulted.
I love my family! Thank you Lord. :)
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