End of the Awana year - Spring 2015

Violet finished her first year of Truth & Training.  She didn't quite finish the entire 8 discoveries in her book, but she completed 7 of them and earned a full scholarship to Willowbrook camp!

Calvin finished his 2nd Sparks book - his last section was to bring a friend - so we found a friend from his school class (Gavin) and worked it out with him mom to bring him with us a week or so ago.  Gavin had a ton of fun.  I'm glad he could come.  Calvin got an award for his 2nd book completed.

Vanessa graduates from Cubbies!  She will be on her first book in Sparks this coming fall.

Eli graduated from Puggles!  Ahhh!!!  I won't have a Puggle next year.  Seems SO odd!  Eli absolutely enjoyed Puggles.  He couldn't WAIT to see Michelle and Brenda every Sunday evening!  I have a couple very tattered puggles shirts that aren't able to be passed on ~ they're in such bad shape.
Eli will start his first of two years of Cubbies this fall.

So thankful for this fun and helpful program to hide God's Word in their hearts!

Eli with his other Puggle friends (Brock Weikert and Anthony Myers)

Vanessa with all her Cubbie friends (she's in the green dress)

Calvin getting book 2 award for Sparks

Violet getting camp scholarship award

Eli's (well, mine too) morning routine

Cheese sticks.

This one needs explaining.

It's becoming somewhat of a predictable thing.  I wake up at 7:00.  That is as early as I can possibly peel myself out of bed.  I make sure Violet and Calvin are dressed for school, fed, teeth brushed, backpacks in the van, shoes on, hair brushed, etc...and Dave comes downstairs at 7:35 am in time to whisk them off to school.  Eli is always awake for the morning rush and it is a battle to keep him out of V and C's way and keep him from being destructive.  He's a stinker.  He has his cereal at 7:15 am too.

Three days a week Vanessa has preschool at OHCP at 9:00.  Sometimes she sleeps through the hustle and bustle of V and C leaving.  Sometimes she's awake. But most of the time she makes a groggy appearance about 8:15 and wants to eat.  Dave and I have breakfast then too.  So she has breakfast, and in no time, it is 8:40 am and I am taking Vanessa to preschool.  

Then I get home, and I have some time to get ready for the day.  Eli watches a TV show (usually Thomas, or Daniel Tiger, or Curious George)...and I go upstairs.  And now comes the explanation of the cheese sticks.  By this time it is about 2 hrs after he's had breakfast and he decides it is time for a morning snack.  He can reach the drawer in the fridge where the cheese sticks are, and he takes one out and brings it up to the bathroom so I can help him peel off the wrapper.  He's gotten 2, sometimes 3 and eats them all.  I snapped this pic and wanted to remember his raiding-of-the-cheese-drawer in the mornings.

Recently I scheduled an eye check up appointment for me in September.  I realized Eli would be in preK on Tuesday/Thursday mornings so I scheduled my appointment for a Tuesday morning.  Knowing I could go off to my appointment BY. MYSELF. was quite a thought.  Weeee!!

David's 39th birthday

I had a lot of fun working on making Dave's day special.  He had a normal work day on his birthday, but we celebrated with family.  He got his favorite fried-egg and toast breakfast, lunch was at Panera with my dad, myself, Vanessa and Eli, and he requested a menu for his birthday.  Burgers on the grill with all the toppings, a cold rice salad, and cut up fresh fruit (strawberries, pineapple, and bananas).  He didn't want a birthday cake, rather...he chose cream puffs with ice cream and caramel and chocolate sauces and port wine.  It is hard to replicate a fond experience he has in California, visiting a little italian place for fresh cream puffs and port wine, but he said the recipes he chose and the execution of it all was delicious and was just as good! 

Rachel, my dad, and my grandma Rowena joined us to celebrate.  Rachel and I gifted Dave with a hammock to put in the hammock stand we have had in storage for a long time and a shirt that says, "Beards: They grow on you".  Violet got him a toy from buck store, Calvin wanted to give him legos (we got them at Target on our way home from school - he chose a little 3-1 set that can be an airplane or two other things), Vanessa gave him a butterfinger candy bar, my grandma got him a nice shirt and a joke - a razor.  She isn't a big fan of the beard, but she laughs about it.  Dad gifted him some $ for a new flashlight.

I can't speak for him but he said the day was pretty fun and he made a facebook post about it (he's not a big facebook guy) and said this:

"Very blessed today. Thank you to my dear wife, Maria, my sweet kiddos, Mama Row, Daddy Jon, Rachel, and all my family and friends for making this a very special day. Delicious meals, great company, kind words, generous and thoughtful gifts, surrounded by loved ones. I'm more blessed than I deserve! I praise God for you all."

Vanessa is planning her 5th birthday

She has been working on this sheet of paper that describes what she'd like to see on her birthday. It explains a cake, balloons, decorations, and gift ideas. She keeps thinking of things and adding to this paper. Her birthday is all it seems like she talks about!

The items she considers birthday-party worthy are:

- M&Ms

- My little pony

- Sticker book

- Streamers

- Balloons

- Cake with 5 candles and a number 5

- "Purple Hair" - a wig

- Princess plate

- Cup

- Backpack

- Mermaid legos (I don't think this item exists)

- Mermaid water bottle

- Dresses...and more dresses...and more dresses

- shopping cart toy (because ours broke...)

- rollerblades

- Fishing pole

- Smarties

- Sucker

- Silly worm (she means gummy worm)

- swedish fish

- and more dresses

Eli and Vanessa enjoying spring weather

*disclaimer* I don't let him run around in undies outside.  Except for this moment, I guess.

Most times seem so crazy "doing life" in our house.  Lots of commotion, a lot of unnecessary arguments that end in tears, messes, etc.  Seems like there are not many calm quiet moments.  This was one of them.  V and C were off at school.  The day was gorgeous, so I put a chair outside to sit in and let Vanessa and Eli play outside with water and in the sandbox.  Nevermind the fact that they'd JUST gotten out of the bathtub and were squeaky clean with perfect curly hair.  I knew they'd love the sandbox.  I didn't know the day was so beautiful when they got in the tub, haha!!  Oh well.  I did cringe when they got dirty all over again, but they just got a second bath for the day.  Hours went by and they enjoyed every minute of being outside.  It also seemed so calm because Rachel was able to pick up Violet and Calvin from school and take them on an errand to get some goodies to put in Mama Row's house to welcome her back to Iowa.  She brought the kids back to my house later in the evening, finished their homework, and played in the sandbox too.  Baths x 4 that evening.  The day ended with a game of Sorry with dad.

Just a few "happy" photos.

Painting primer in basement

Yup...that's me in my scrubs getting paint everywhere. :)
I calculated approximately 2,500 square feet of wall space in our basement that needs to be painted. Weeee!  Here we go.

Trip to Chicago for Easter 2015 (with Butler family)

Dave's Uncle Tim (lives in Ohio) posted a message to all members of the Butler family a few months ago announcing that he'd made plans to visit Chicago for Easter.  He and his wife Deb stay with his brother Roger and Mary Butler.  Some committed to going and some didn't.  When Dave's brother Sean announced he would be going, and family members coaxed Jeff Winters and family to go (after all nobody had seen any of his 4 kids!), we decided to toss in the towel as well and schedule the trip.  We all booked rooms at the same hotel in the Naperville/Lisle, IL area.  Normally we'd stay with Josh and Carrie but their house was a bit too far out west for it to be convenient.

Many facebook messages occurred among those committed to going making plans.  Many suggested things but when the dust settled, we agreed on an activity plan and meal plan for dinners.

Those who commited to going were:
Dave and I and 4 kids
Josh and Carrie and 3 kids
Sean and April and 7 kids
Jeff and Denise and 4 kids
Adam and Kala Barcus (and unborn baby Ruthie, due in May)
Tim and Deb Butler
Roger and Mary
Brad Ducommun
Martha LaMarche

We took off for the Chicago area Thurs afternoon after picking up V and C from school.  I packed all day and we left at 3.  We arrived at the hotel around 8:45.  Greeted Sean and April and family and since it was so late we got kids to bed, then hung out in a nearby hospitality room we also rented as our hang-out spot on the 14th floor.  Our room had a king sized bed and a pull-out couch.  We requested a cot and got a nice twin to add to our room and take up floor space.  Violet and Eli shared the twin and Vanessa and Calvin shared the pull out couch.

Friday morning we'd scheduled a family baby shower for Kala.  Guys stayed at hotel and kept track of kids.  Mary Butler hosted at her house for all the women and we enjoyed a delicious breakfast and gave Kala some gifts.  She was 34 weeks pregnant at the shower.  She loved having us bless her, she was glowing.  I love seeing her.  I wanted to give her a "Baby Ruth" candy bar but will probably mail one. She's planning to name her baby Ruthie.  Moms around the room shared some wisdom.  Good encouraging times.

Carrie, Kala and I stopped at Chick-Fil-A and brought home lunch for the boys and kids.  We had plans to go to Josh and Carrie's house (J&C hosted the whole family for dinner) and have a pizza competition.  We gathered pizzas from three local places and all decided which was their favorite.  Giordanos won!

Martha's birthday was April 3.  Carrie had gotten a big cake for her and a huge apple pie with cheddar cheese (apparently that's one of Martha's favorites).  She doesn't like all the attention on her but it was still fun to celebrate.

The overall "flavor" if I can call it that...of the whole weekend...well, the words "hustle and bustle" comes to my mind.  Kids outnumbered the adults, and it was a bit of an effort to keep them all in order!  Almost no silence.

The drive to J&C's was an hour so when we got back from J&Cs it was kids to bed time.  I'm pretty sure there was hang-out time with everyone who could that evening after kids were all in bed.

Saturday morning we had brought cereal/milk and ate breakfast in the hospitality room next to our rooms.  It had a tables and a fridge/microwave for us to use.  Saturday was the "go-downtown-Chicago" day.  We got to the train station via hotel transport bus to catch a train down to Union Station about 10:30 am.  That whole train experience was really fun for everyone.  Seeing the downtown skyline was exciting.  Getting everywhere was an adventure.  Cold windy morning, but was sunny but the time we got closer to the lake.  J&D had strollers.  We stopped at a Starbucks.  Delicious espresso and steamed milk was enjoyed.  Hot chocolate was spilled.  Plan was to visit the shiny "bean" in Millenium Park and then find somewhere for lunch.  Some stopped for bathroom visits.  Others caught later trains downtown and met us for lunch.  After busy lunch at Shake Shack or something like that, we headed towards Navy Pier.  Beautiful sunshine.  Got tickets for ferris wheel.  All 6 of us in one cart - fun and nervously exciting!  Windy and sunny.  Hung out at Navy Pier until it was time to make it to train station to catch train back to hotel.  Caught a cab to train station.  Eli promptly fell asleep when we were driving in cab.  Slept whole way back on train in my lap.  Plan was to get dinner at a reserved room in Portillo's in St. Charles.  Regrouped in hotel room.  Back in van to drive to Portillos.  Tim and reserved a room for the whole family and there was sausages, italian beefs, chopped salad, french fries, and brownies on buffet.  All delicious food!  Took family photo.  Thank you to portillos employee for snapping those photos.

Sunday morning decided to join Roger/Mary at Wheaton College Church.  We have lots of information about Christ rising from the grave, but we can use the information to transform us.  Sang hallelujah chorus from the Messiah as a congregation!

We had some time to wait until our reserved room for lunch at Macaroni Grill was ready, so our group went to Starbucks to relax in the sun.  A lady who was walking by came over to us and handed the kids each a bottle of bubbles to play with.  She said she was done teaching Sunday School and had some extra.  They all were thankful and played with the bubbles while we all got our coffee fixes.  Lunch at Mac Grill was across the street and we used a reserved room towards the back for a family meal together.  Menu was shorter so we all chose from a special menu.  Chicken Parm had never tasted so good!  Had a really great conversation with Martha.

Tim/Deb and Adam/Kala said goodbyes and headed back to Ohio then.  Rest of crew went back to hotel to swim.  I felt a little tired so I didn't swim.  Kids all swam for hours.  There was so much leftover pizza from Friday night that we chose to warm that up for dinner.  Everyone took turns warming up pizza in microwave of hospitality room.  Emily stayed up late with some adults and we chatted/enjoyed chips/salsa/cheese.

Monday morning was a "pack up and leave when we are packed up" kind of a morning.  Dave had a meeting he had to go to at 4:30 in Cedar Falls so getting out of the hotel by noon was a goal.  We grabbed breakfast sandwiches at noon on our way out of town at Starbucks (with coffee, of course!) and made a slick drive home, stopping once, I think.  Don't really remember.

Details are foggy at this point because I'm a few days past it, but pictures always tell more than what I can describe sometimes.  Here are some highlights:

Calvin lost a front tooth on Easter