Funeral in Arkansas for Mama Ruth

My great grandma Ruth died last week Thursday. She would have been 112 on Sept 30th. Everyone in the family was sad, but we all knew it was her time. I don't know exactly for sure that she was saved. I hadn't spoken at all with her about it, but I knew she loved the Lord and she made mention that the Lord had taken good care of her throughout her whole life, and she quoted the Psalm "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Most of the Lincoln family are not Christians, so my prayer was that this event of death in the family would make them think more seriously about eternity and that someone in their path of life would lead them to Christ. So we decided to make the trek across three states to go to the burial and funeral. Jay decided to drive along with us in our van, so we picked him up on Sunday afternoon in Cedar Rapids with the goal of staying at a hotel in Kansas City. It was a 6 hour drive there. I think we stopped a couple times, I can't really remember anymore. Its all a blur of 4 days of driving and sleeping in three different hotels, a different one each night. I'm surprised we didn't forget anything anywhere, we had SO much stuff to haul into each hotel room each night and pack/repack three times. The first hotel was a Homewood Suites in Kansas City. We arrived around 9 pm after eating supper at Denny's upon arrival. Their pool was closed, Violet was really bummed about it. This hotel was a nice room - it had a separate bedroom with a door, so the kids both slept in pack and play cribs (yes, even Violet barely fits in one!) crammed in the corner together. It took them awhile to fall asleep, they kept giggling and playing games, throwing blankets in each other's crib. Once they fell asleep though, they slept hard. Jay slept on an air mattress in a sleeping bag, and Rachel rolled in around midnight and joined us. She stayed in Iowa City later on Sunday to go to the Iowa Dental meetings and make contacts with other doctors in Iowa. She drove separately and got in late - everybody else was sleeping when she got in, but she made it safely. That morning we drove to Van Buren, AR for Mama Ruth's burial site. She was buried next to her husband in her home town. We somehow underestimated the time it was going to take us to get from Kansas City to Van Buren, and once we got on the road, we figured it would take 2 more hours than we expected. We all felt a little sense of panic when we realized that, and started driving a little faster. Rachel plugged in the location on her GPS, and the device informed us that we would arrive 30 minutes late. We drove a little faster, made up some time, and the estimated time of arrival kept shrinking close to 1 pm. We got there at 1:07 pm. Just in time. We threw a dress on Violet once we got there. We had to stop for gas once along the way, which set us back a few more minutes, but we made the stop in record speed. Poor Violet was so confused. Just being three years old, she obviously doesn't understand death or what a burial or funeral is. She asked the most literal questions. "Who is in that box? How did she get there? Is she having fun in the box? You mean they're going to put her in the ground? Can I help put the dirt over the box?" She got confused with the name Ruth. She thought that my aunt Ruth died and was in that box. She said "bye Ruth" very sincerely when we left the burial site. She touched the white coffin and then left with the rest of us. Calvin stayed in the stroller and kept his eyes safely on mom or dad the whole time. He wasn't so sure about all these "strangers" getting in his face saying hi to him. A little church that Mama Ruth used to be a member of in Van Buren hosted the family and some friends for a small funeral service and reception after the burial. We had a few snacks (fruit and cookies) after wards and the kids finally got to run around a little bit. When that was over, we changed our clothes and prepared for another "long" drive of 150 miles to Little Rock. We first stopped at the house that Mama Ruth used to live in in Van Buren. We found the house at 1111 Murty Lane. We took a couple pictures of the house, then stopped at a different cemetery to see the gravestones of Grandma Rowena's grand father and relatives. We grabbed lunch at a Sonic (there are Sonics everywhere down there!) and drove to Little Rock. Violet was by far the easiest traveler. She definitely had her moments of fussing and whining, but she was generally happy and slept decent when she was tired. I think the most fun thing for her was having a personal CD player and her own headphones. She got to listen to all the music she wanted and the rest of us didn't have to hear the silly songs the whole time! It worked great. She thought we could hear them. And she also said "I am turning the music louder so the car can drive faster!" The day before we left I picked up three CDs full of kid songs (123 songs!) to keep her occupied. She loves music so much, I knew she'd love them. A few of the songs she already knew, so that was a bonus. Calvin definitely had worse moments than Violet. He is so intense. He did not sleep as well as he should have during travel time in the car. He fought sleep so badly, and when he did sleep, it was for no longer than an hour. There were times that he would just scream at the top of his lungs. And I could tell that he just HAD to scream. Its like his brain knew nothing else and screaming was his way to express himself. He was tired, sick of being strapped into his seat for hours and hours, and just had to let it out. It did wear him out, though, and often times after these episodes of screaming, he would fall asleep. Poor kid. We got to the hotel in Little Rock and I took Violet swimming, and Dave put Calvin to bed. Rachel and Jay joined us in our hotel room for a few minutes. Rachel brought her computer along so she could show Violet some pictures of who died and who was alive. She saw some good pictures, and we pointed out that Great Grandma Ruth (the old lady with white hair) died, and was in the box. That seemed to make her happy and realize that her favorite aunt Ruth wasn't dead. She didn't get to bed until 10:40 pm that night, and slept hard through the night. The next morning we all slept in til 8:45 am. On Tuesday morning, most of the family in town met for a breakfast at a place called Delicious Temptations. The kids snarfed down huge pancakes and I had sausage biscuits and gravy. My mom took Calvin outside numerous times so he could run around. He was never happy just sitting at the table. He wanted to grab everything in sight and throw it fiercely to the ground. Violet was really happy to see Aunt Ruth and Uncle Michael when then showed up for breakfast with the rest of the family. She asked her "did you die?" and Ruth graciously told her no, and it was her grandma Ruth that died. We spent the next hour over at Mama Ruth's old apartment over at Chenal Parkway village. Aunt Lucy told us to go there and take whatever we wanted. It was weird to be there with most of the room cleared out and no bed. I looked around a little but didn't see anything I liked. My grandma Rowena suggested I take a blanket, which I thought was a good idea. I also saw a big box of baby wipes in the closet. We took those, too. Most of the family had already gone through and taken things they wanted. The church service at Second Presbyterian Church where Mama Ruth had attended her whole Little Rock life was at 2 pm. Not such a good time because I knew the kids would be tired, but we dressed up and went. They did surprisingly well - lighting up whenever the congregation would sing a song. We even sang Amazing Grace, which perked up Violet. She proudly sang along with the rest of us for the first verse, which she has memorized. I got lots of compliments on the kids, saying how well behaved they were and how cute they were, etc. I was glad to hear they had made a good impression on people. During the service, the pastor related some funny things that Mama Ruth said in her life time. She was such a humorous person. He told a story of when she made an appearance at some church event to help raise money for a new roof. She joked that the church could just put her in a cage and charge a dollar for people to view her and by the time the day was over, they could raise enough money to pay for it. ha!! She knew she was sort of a spectacle with people, being as old as she was. She was the 31st oldest person in the world at the time she died, and the oldest person in AR at the time of her death. The church hosted family and friends for another reception with cookies and fruit. The room was enormous, the size of a gymnasium. There was a slide show of pictures up on a screen of Mama Ruth and other family members. I kept Calvin in the stroller, afraid I'd lose him in that crowd of people. He runs SO fast, I have to run to keep up with him, so even though he was rearing to get out of his stroller, I wouldn't let him. Violet helped herself many times to punch and cookies. I just let her do it, even though the mommy in my head was screaming "stop eating junk food!". She actually reached for some strawberries and at a bunch of those along with some grapes. I didn't know she liked strawberries. Apparently she does! lol We talked to many family members before leaving for the car and getting comfy clothes to change into. We planned to drive half way home tonight, and stop overnight in Columbia, MO. We left Little Rock around 5 pm, and got into Columbia at 11 pm. That drive was miserable. The first 2 hours was windy twisty roads and nobody slept, they just whined and fussed. I was about to lose it. Finally Calvin fell asleep, and then Violet did. Dave drove that whole trip, and was exhausted when we pulled in. Both kids were sleeping when we pulled up to the hotel so they were NOT happy when we had to wake them up to take them to the room. Like clockwork, we each took a kid and got them ready for bed. Calvin was happy to get in his crib and Violet started the night on the air mattress, but she kept tossing and turning. Dave brought her to bed with him and she slept soundly the rest of the night. I slept by myself in the other bed. My grandparents and parents were in a car together - and they decided to stay in the same hotel with us so we could have breakfast together. Jay stayed in mom and dad's room so he could have a bed. That next morning, Calvin was the first to wake up when the sunlight peeked through a crack in the window curtain. He popped his head up and said "hi!" I tried to pretend I hadn't lifted my head up and seen him, but he knew I saw him. He kept saying "hi! hi!" until everybody woke up. Little stinker. He tried jumping up and down in his pack and play like it was his crib (and his crib is really bouncy!) but it didn't work the same. It was repeated thumping...over and over. Finally everybody else crawled out of bed. Everybody was hungry, so we went down to get breakfast in our PJs. We knew we were going to stay a couple extra hours so Violet and Calvin could play in the pool....so staying in our PJs just made sense. Breakfast was delicious. They had cheese omelets, sausage, biscuits, yogurt, cereal, yummy coffee, juice, and lots of other options. My grandma Rowena helped Calvin get breakfast. Violet munched on her food and got lots of attention by my family and the hotel staff. The manager came over and gave each kid a webkin toy. My grandparents and parents left, and we stayed a little longer so the kids could swim. This time Dave got in the water with them. I was too tired and had no desire to get in the water. We let them swim a little (Dave held Calvin the whole time and Violet swam by herself with the life jacket). Jay watched, too. We finally cut off swim time and got showered and checked out. We hit the road by 11 am, and tried finding a starbucks with no success. Dave was a little grumpy that he couldn't start out the morning with his customary mocha, but he got over it. I started out driving the first leg of the trip. We were almost home! Well, not exactly, but this was our last leg of the whole journey. We drove until we stopped in a little town in Missouri called Monroe City and got Hardees for lunch. Jay drove the rest of the way to Cedar Rapids. I don't remember much of that drive. I think the kids slept a little. I sat in the back seat and read a book. We were all just tired and really wanted to get home. We finally started seeing familiar territory when we got onto hwy 380. Jay drove to his house, and stopped for a bathroom break and let the kids see his rabbit, Corby. They loved to feed him little treats. We got back in the car after about 10 minutes, eager to get home, knowing we only had 50 more miles to go. The time went quick, and before we knew it, we were pulling into our driveway. yayyyy!!! The kids tore through the house, so happy to be home and to be able to run and play with toys again. Dave and I slowly unpacked the van...trudging with each step. We knew the kids had bundles of energy, so we rode on our bicycles to the nearest park and let them hash it out for an hour on the playground. The loved it, giggling with every new thing they came across. We biked home and got our tired kids to bed. I looked at the mess of stuff on the kitchen floor and asked Dave for help unpacking and straightening things up. He was reluctant to help but knew it was important to me to get a start on this stack of stuff. In 20 minutes, all the dirty laundry was in baskets in the laundry room and most everything was put away. Yayy. I could finally relax and start laundry tomorrow. Dave watched a little TV and I settled into a chair and read a book. We just sat with out moving for probably 2 hours. It felt nice to be home and relax.

My morning

This morning when I woke up I knew I only had one more day to get my Bible study book before it starts tomorrow. I had that on my mental list of things to get done while Violet was at preschool today. I even told myself that we would drive here there so I could head right to the book store with Calvin after I dropped her off. Some how totally forgot what I errand I was supposed to run. I prayed and asked God to help me remember exactly what I was supposed to do...I don't normally just forget things like that, so it was weird. I knew we were out of eggs, so maybe I was supposed to run to the store and get a dozen eggs. I got the kids in the car after breakfast and dropped off Violet at the store, half way convinced that I was supposed to grab eggs before coming home. After I dropped her off at preschool, I drove the car around the north side of the school and saw my friend Trisha parking so she could go into exercise class. I pulled over next to her and said hi. She said to me "Are you ready for Bible study tomorrow?" I was like "thank you God!" because he brought me into the path of a friend who would remind me what I was supposed to do with out even realizing it! I told her I knew I had something to do but couldn't remember, and she just reminded me! I was so happy. I knew I'd be frustrated if I went to run errands and forgot to pick up the book. Yay! She told me to try calling the library since they have a preowned book section of books you can get for cheap. I tried calling the library on my way to the book store, but they said the preowned book store was only open on Mon, Wed and Fri. Well, its Tues, so I took another route. Instead of going out of my way to Waterloo to the Family Christian Store, I decided to check out Wiley's Books on Waterloo Road just a few blocks from where I was at the moment. I stopped in and asked the lady behind the desk if she had the book I was looking for. She checked her computer, and said "oh I'm sorry, we're out of that book at the moment, but let me check the back for a minute." She left for a moment, and came back with the exact book I was looking for. She said "This book is free." I must have had a very puzzled look on my face. She said "We got it free, I'll give it to you free. sometimes missionaries or people wanting to donate books and get rid of their collections give them to us." It had a few markings and highlighted pages, but that didn't matter. I was very thankful to her, and she said "God is good!" I agreed, and packed Calvin back up in the car. I was amazed and thankful for the very clear, simple and effective means God used to communicate to me and help me this morning. He really heard my prayer for help this morning and delivered immediately!

Brave swimmer

We had a lot of fun last night. The Hemmer family invited us to swim in their pool last night and we brought along a couple pizzas for dinner. It was so nice to hang out and just have fun. We went to Dennis and Selena's house when Dave had wrapped up all his work activity and we all enjoyed the pizza. Calvin even sat at the "little kid's" table and did alright. I had to make him sit down and eat about four times, but I think he ate something. We changed into our suits and walked over to the pool at Dennis' parent's house (right across the yard) and swam for about an hour or so. I thought for sure I'd have to hold onto Violet the whole time. In past swimming experiences this summer she has clung to mom or dad pretty tightly - even with a life jacket on. I think Ivy inspired confidence in her. Ivy jumped right in and started floating with the help of her arm floaties. Violet must have seen how easy that was and immediately told me "DON'T hang on to me!" and she let herself go off the step into the water and float. I think she was so excited, she couldn't stop giggling at the new feeling of floating by herself with the help of her life jacket and nobody helping her. She figured out how to move around in the water by moving her arms and legs. She had a blast - she swam all over. She saw the slide and asked to go down the slide. I wasn't about to tell her that she would go under water when she hit the water so she went ahead (I "caught" her) and she loved it. She didn't even fuss about going under water and getting her eyes wet. I think she went down the slide 4 or 5 more times. She must have inspired a little confidence in Ivy, too. Ivy wanted to go down the slide, too, and she went a couple times, a little scared the first time but much more confident the second. I think Evan even floated himself with his floaties. Calvin however, did not have so much fun. He pretty much stuck his feet in the water and played on the steps, but when we got him in the water deeper, he freaked out and cried. He didn't even like floating with the help of a blow up floaty designed for kids his size. Oh well. Dave, Dennis and I got goofy with tricks off the diving board. It soon got very dark and buggy so we closed up the pool and went back to their house to dry off and get dressed. We promised to do this again next summer, but we won't wait til September. :) Even though she dropped a plate on her toe after dinner and smashed it, she didn't let that little injury prevent her from having fun.

little mommy

Carrie and I got busy in the kitchen today getting supper prepared. She was melting chocolate with the double boiler and coating strawberries with chocolate, and I was chopping peppers and onions. Violet was standing near me, and Calvin came running into the kitchen and said "yeah! yeah! yeah!" Violet looks at Calvin's excited reaction and quickly hushed him and said "Calvin! Relax! Its NOT macaroni and cheese!" in the most parental tone I've ever heard her come across to him. Carrie and I could only laugh.

The cousins reunite once again

Carrie, Austin and Renee all came to our house for a few days this week. Josh is in India for work and will be back on Sunday. He is in charge of setting up a tech support team for his company. It seems like they're all getting along so much better than last time. Violet is being an excellent sharer and letting the kids play with her toys. They got here Tues night and are heading out Friday morning. Wednesday morning we met at a park with some friends and their kids, which was a nice time. They got SO dirty playing. Calvin has mulch from the playground smashed in his ears and in his hair, and the rest of them just got plain sticky and sweaty, every piece of dirt they came into contact with stuck to their sweaty skin. I think all of them took turns rubbing their hands in ash from a charcoal grill near by. (ew, ew!) They all got baths before nap that day. We packed all 4 of them in our big soaker tub in our master bathroom - they had a blast. Violet woke up from naps before everybody else and by 4:00 they were all up, so we started supper for the kids and then we all went to the Wilson's house for small group. We fed the kids spaghetti before we left so we didn't have to feed them there, but of course they were all interested in the snacks available. This morning Carrie and I took Violet to preschool and the rest of the kids to the child care area so Carrie and I could go work out in the gym. She is a trooper - being 7 months pregnant doing what she could from the work out and improvising positions that required laying on her stomach. We got the kids when class was over (V stayed in school til 11:30) and ran a couple errands at two stores. We picked her up when preschool was over and decided to pick up some lunch at Zippy's BBQ. That's it so far. Tonight we're having teriyaki chicken of some kind (Carrie brought it) with peppers and rice. I also have to prep some food for dinner tomorrow night with my grandparents and also some picnic food I'm preparing for Saturday.

A couple new words for Calvin

2 in one day! He said "hah-dah!" in place of "hot dog" last night at dinner. We ate lots of corn on the cob, so the kids ate hot dogs along with it. Calvin saw his on his plate while I was cutting it into small pieces when he said it. Then a few moments later, he heard an airplane in the sky and said "Air-pay!" Most everything he says is "doh!" so to hear some new things come out of his mouth was refreshing. :)

Calvin has a new thing

....and its Elmo. He says "Ehhhh-moh!" I got him a pair of Sesame Street pajamas at a garage sale last month. They're so cute, size 3T, I thought they'd fit him next year. But to my surprise, they do fit him now. I guess PJs are made small because they're supposed to be fitted. And he's just a big kid anyway, wearing mostly 2T stuff. Anyway, he gets so excited when he wears them. He pulls the t-shirt part of the pajamas out so he can see Elmo's face and points to it. He also uses a spoon that has Elmo on it. Violet went through a phase where she was crazy about Elmo, maybe Calvin will too. Another thing he's been doing lately is trying to get his hands on anything and everything he can possibly touch while being held. If I'm carrying him in from the van, he has to shut my door, run his hands along the red sparkly strip on the boat, push the door open and shove it closed. If we're walking up the steps, he grabs for the post at the top and hangs onto it - he's like a leech - I have to peel him away from it, and of course, he giggles about it. His favorite things lately are trucks. He actually plays with them like they're supposed to be played with, driving them along the couch and on the floor. He's a little confused though, and says "choo-choo!" while driving his trucks. I know he recognizes trains and also says "choo-choo" when he sees a train or hears a train whistle. Only at a distance is he comfortable with loud trains. A rumble or a loud noise from a train and he's squealing for fear holding onto my legs wanting to be picked up. Another favorite thing of Calvin's when coming into the house from the garage is to take off running (I call it his runway) from the entrance to the fireplace steps as soon as I put him on the floor. I have to slip his shoes off quick! He goes so fast he practically floats. If he's wearing socks, he'll not even notice how slippery it is and immediately fall having no traction on the tile floor. Silly kid. I love him so much. Having a boy is so different and so much fun. Ok, since I'm thinking about Calvin so much, I keep thinking of things he does ALL the time. One of them is to sneak upstairs when I'm not looking and get onto the bathroom counter top and pull out a toothbrush and start to open up the tube of toothpaste. He just loves to sit there and chew on the toothbrush. I always spank him and put him down, telling him no, but he does it relentlessly and repeatedly. Its like he has an addiction to toothbrushes right now. I don't want to lock that bathroom door either since Violet uses that bathroom all the time during the day. Except when his teeth get brushed by mommy or daddy before bed, and then it becomes a screaming event. *sigh*

Success!

Violet just loved preschool today! She came up to me with a running hug that about knocked me over when I came to pick her up at 11:30. I had gotten there a little bit early and watched them all walk in a line from the little playground to their classroom. She did great, walking nicely, making sure one kid was in front of her and one kid was behind her. All the kids were sitting on the benches by the door waiting for their mommies to pick them up, but I had walked with the double stroller. I knew she'd be tired so I brought the double thinking she would sit on the walk home, and she did. She said many things. I will try remember her reaction. "I got my mommy back! I'm so glad because I love you, and you got your Violet back. Mommy, were you sad? Calvin, were you sad because you missed me? (he answered "yeah")" and so on. She said they colored with markers (but not the same ones that we dropped off), played, sang songs, played on the playground, etc. I don't really know what they all did. She told me she followed the leader. When daddy came upstairs, she was beaming and said "I had so much fun at school to day!" so all-in-all, a great day, she loved it, and I am happy for her.

Violet's first day of preschool

So far it has gone really well! But she's only been there for 1 hour. I'm speaking of the morning and drop-off. She woke up and had some cheerios with daddy while I got a shower. A few days ago when we were in the car we talked about her going to preschool and she asked me if I would be going with her. I told her no, and she started crying in the car. She thought I was going because I went and stayed with her during the open house a few weeks ago. But now that we've talked to her for the last few days about preschool just being for those kids who are three and four years old (definitely not for mommies and daddies!) she seemed to adjust better. I told her her friends would be there (she knows Ethan, the grandson of the fitness instructor at OHC, and she also is familiar with Liam, a son of a friend of mine). I told her her friends mommies wouldn't be there. So Dave got to walk with us over there this morning - he took a short break from work to do so. When we walked there she was happy and wore her back pack. She clasped her hands together because she didn't want daddy or mommy to touch her. I'm not sure what that was about, but maybe she was trying to be "by herself" and convince herself that she didn't need help. We got in the building and saw Rachel, the fitness instructor. She snapped a pic of Ethan and Violet together. We walked down the hall and found the hook for her back pack. She walked in the class room and found her name tag and a teacher helped her hook it on. She asked me to hold her, but I said no, I can't right now because I can't stay. She seemed alright. We both gave her hugs and kisses and left. She walked further into the classroom with out a fit or a tear, we were both very happy she did great. I suppose I'll hear a bunch of stories about her first day when I go to get her at 11:30. Calvin is a little confused why Violet isn't here. He grabbed their favorite trucks to play with (he has a red one, she has a pink one) and didn't really know what to do. He's adjusting - he is playing well today by himself most of the time. I bet he will be very happy to see her. Now for a pic of her the morning of her "first day at school"! (ignore the wet stains in her shirt...Calvin gave her a bite of oatmeal this morning and got her messy...the wet spots were my attempt to wipe them clean...)

Sparkly legs

Violet had herself in a tizzy while getting ready for bed. Her routine is "three things" which consist of going potty, brushing teeth, and putting on PJs. She sat on the toilet for a longer time than usual, and then got off and fell to the bathroom floor. She started laughing and said her legs were sparkly. I tried to help her stand up so she could climb her stool to get the toothbrush out of the holder, but she could barely take a step. She just kept laughing so I picked her up and then realized that her legs must have gone numb from sitting on the toilet for so long. She giggled and giggled, she was making ME laugh! Feeling eventually came back to her legs, but she'll probably be talking about her sparkly legs for awhile.

Our short trip to MN

Dave found out last minute that he had to attend a two-day training class in MN at the Calix HQ MN office. So...since we missed him so much last week when he was gone, I decided to take the kids along and go with him for this short trip. We made reservations at a hotel with a big water park, so that made things much easier for me. Both mornings we spent 2 or 3 hours at the hotel kiddie area splashing around. They had so much fun! Right now I'm typing in a very dark hotel room. The kids are trying to get themselves calmed down to take naps, but its proving to be difficult today. It may be because they're in bunk beds! We booked a room that had a separate walled-off area for kids that has bunk beds in it. Violet is on the top (and extremely excited about it, actually. The first thing she said is "Its a bed just like Ivy's!!! And like Evan's!! I get to sleep on the top like Ivy, and Calvin, you get to sleep on the bottom like Evan!") She could barely contain her excitement, she was jumping and screaming around the hotel because she was so excited to sleep "wayyy up on top"! We decided to brave it and let Calvin sleep on the bottom bunk. I rolled up the comforter the bed came with and formed a long rolled up barrier against the edge of the bed and tried to tuck it in on both ends. It seemed to hold pretty well, so we hung a big thick blanket across the opening so it seemed more like he was closed in like the crib he is used to. Dave was confident he could sleep in it so I tried it. When we arrived on Tuesday night late we got them in bed pretty quickly and they both fell asleep. The night went well, and Calvin stayed in his bed the whole night. I was pretty proud of him, I didn't expect that. And he must have learned a thing or two from bunk beds at camp. He didn't stand up at all and smash his head on the top bunk, he was careful not to. Dave took off for his class on Wed morning and I went to the pool. The kiddie area has three slides - and Violet went down all three of them constantly. Calvin crawled around the water most of the time and was too scared to go down any of the slides. He's such a cautious kid. For lunch we ordered a pizza, and then I got them back down for naps. They slept well - for maybe 2 1/2 hours. I took them for a walk outside the hotel and checked out some shopping. We wandered around a kid toy store for about a half hour, then Dave got back from his training class around 4:30. His cousin Jeff came over to hang out with us for the night. Jeff just got engaged, and you could tell. He was just beaming the whole evening, and couldn't stop talking about the wedding plans, his fiancé Denise, and just the whole thought process he's going through about being engaged and planning a wedding in 2 months. Dave is going to be his best man in the wedding. We went to Buca di Beppos - an italian family style restaurant (where the servings are large and everyone eating shares). Violet ordered mac and cheese (of course, the girl could live of that and that alone if she had the opportunity, lol) and Calvin shared it because the serving was so big. Jeff, Dave and I split some prosciutto-stuffed chicken with a creamy sauce, mozzarella caprese (fresh tomato slices, fresh mozzarella slices, fresh basil leaves, and olive oil), and a dish of baked sausage rigatoni. Everything was really good. We walked over to Coldstone Creamery across the street and enjoyed some ice cream creations. Calvin was all over the ice cream, begging for bites from everyone around the table. Violet didn't want ice cream...she isn't a big ice cream fan yet, apparently it is too cold for her. Oh well. She started getting REALLY whiney, so we called it a night and got the kids back to the hotel so they could get to bed. It was nice to hang out with Jeff. He is always enthusiastic and great company. Violet picked up on his friendly energy - she sat next to him and ended up crawling all over his shoulders and didn't stop talking to him. Normally she isn't so friendly with "strangers". Jeff isn't exactly a stranger but she doesn't see him more than twice a year or so. She must have a memory of seeing him earlier in her life, who knows. So..the kids finally fell asleep, and Dave, Jeff and I went down to the pool area. Jeff left b/c he didn't really want to swim (plus, he had to get up at 3 am to head to work the next morning!) so Dave and I stayed to swim for awhile. Somewhere in the middle of the night, Dave heard a noise. He got up and checked the kids to see what was going on. Poor Calvin was sleeping on the FLOOR. Somehow he had pushed his way over the comforter barrier and through the sheet that was hanging over the opening. Dave almost stepped on him. He picked him up and put him back in bed and Calvin seemed to be very happy about it. He snuggled into his blanket and went right back to sleep. Maybe we'll keep him in a crib for a little while longer after that episode. This morning we hit the pool again after another pancake breakfast in the hotel restaurant. I decided to brave the deeper pool with the kids. Violet and Calvin were in my arms the whole time, splashing and kicking. I ended up in the shallowest end of the pool (3 feet deep) and found out Violet could touch the bottom and her whole head was sticking out of the water. She was SO excited to find out that she could touch. So she didn't want to go back to the kiddie pool - she was determined to walk from edge to edge while touching the bottom, and she did multiple times. She can't swim, so I was watching her like a hawk. She was so proud of herself. She said "You didn't realize that I could touch the bottom! This is so fun!" She said she can't wait to tell daddy about it. Then we all had to get out and deal with a dirty diaper from Calvin, and Violet had to use the bathroom, too. I decided Calvin was done swimming so I put a regular diaper on him and strapped him in the stroller with a towel wrapped around him so he could just watch us swim. I could finally enjoy letting Violet swim/walk by herself with out having to worry about what Calvin was doing. He was getting too fussy anyway. So she then jumped off the edge of the pool multiple times into my arms. She insisted on doing it herself because she knew she could touch, so I went ahead and let her - she soon found out that means she could still go under water, haha. That was the end of that...I had to catch all subsequent jumps into the water. She said she was done...so both kids got good and tired by the end of that swimming experience. After a crazy time of me showering and bathing both kids, they had some left over pizza from yesterday's lunch for lunch today. I'm glad we have a fridge in our room. It has kept Calvin's milk cold during this stay here and allowed us to eat lunch in the room with out having to go anywhere. I put them down for naps about 30 minutes ago but Calvin is still kicking the wall and humming. I hope he falls asleep soon! That's about it...we'll head home tonight when Dave is done working. He said he's really enjoying the training class he's taking and is glad we came with him.

Getting a little better, I think

but time will tell. She woke up begging for food and pretty much refused jello...so Dave and I agreed to give her a piece of plain dry toast. She wanted it cut up in pieces, and served on a plate with a fork (lol), and she sat and ate the whole thing and claimed to feel better. After she threw up last night's supper I was hesitant to give her anything, but so far she's keeping the bread down.

Ugh

As if things couldn't get worse, she woke us up at 2 am. She walked into our bedroom and before I even opened my eyes, I could smell it. She whispered "Mommy, there's something all over me and its really stinky." She had puked. I stuck my hand out to wake up Dave - and he dutifully got up to help. I stuck V in the bath tub and washed her hair and her body again and Dave changed the sheets on the bed and put the puked on things in the washing machine. I had even put a diaper on her knowing that she can't control her runny diarrhea and I'm glad I did, because when she woke up in the morning, the diaper was full. Poor kid. I called the doc to see if I could bring her any relief with anything and they told me it was a tummy virus and it just needs to run its course. Liquid diet today and BRAT tomorrow if she stops vomiting. So I just got back from the store with some powerade and some popsicles...she seems to be happy with the popsicles so far. Calvin is ticked that he can't have any though!!

Another mess....

Poor Violet - she is sick. She had issues yesterday and I thought she'd get over it, but this morning she woke up and took one bite of her cereal and threw up. Dave stayed home with her this morning, and she ended up falling asleep on the couch for two hours. And she took a nap later in the day, and woke up screaming because she had a runny BM in bed. What. A. MESS. And stinky. I bathed her and Dave rinsed off some bedding and threw everything that got stained into the washing machine on the hot heavy cycle. Ew, ew, ew! The room is being aired out now...windows open, fans on....that should help. I'm praying that Calvin doesn't get sick. I think it was something she ate...a tummy virus or something. She doesn't have a fever, so hopefully once everything "passes" she'll be better. She's so sweet though. She whimpers a lot and wants to watch Elmo on TV. She told Dave "Daddy, I think I'll just get up and use the potty next time. I think that would be better."

What a mess!

Violet says to me today "Mom, it hasn't been a long time since I ever painted." meaning: "I haven't painted in awhile!" So...I got out her paints, paper to paint on, and a smock (an old messy T shirt of mine). She carefully used the brushes for the first 5 minutes, but then decided that wasn't fun enough and dug her fingers in to every color possible. I just let her go at it and it entertained her for about an hour. Calvin woke up while she was working on it and he was so jealous he couldn't do it, too! So he got strapped in a high chair with some snacks while she finished up. I wasn't going to risk him swiping the paint from the floor - he can reach, and I know he would have! (never fear readers: She was using water based washable paint...came right off!)

Adjusting

This week has been especially interesting and challenging. I think the kids (esp Violet) are getting used to being home again after being gone for such a long time. She's been extra whiny at bed time (crying and complaining that she can't even climb the stairs to her room, or climb on the toilet herself), and Calvin has been a mess. He is such a touchy kid. He gets upset if something doesn't go exactly the way he expects it to, and lets me know. He throws his body onto the floor in a full-out throw down and screams for awhile. Something as simple as not giving him the sippy he expected when asking for a drink. Everyone in the family is still recovering from our colds. I'm still coughing up stuff and blowing my nose every 30 minutes, and I'm wiping the kids' noses every hour. Dave said he feels OK, but he's just so incredibly swamped with work. Taking a week off is a big deal for him. His lap top computer crashed the day before we left -- it wouldn't start. So the day we got back from camp he called the help desk and he had to wait a day for them to mail him a part. He is responding to over 300 emails and is back downstairs tonight working to try catch up for tomorrow. Even in the midst of all this craziness, I'm thankful for my little family and how much love I feel for them and how much they give me in return.

Contacts

I went to the eye doc last month and got my eyes checked. I had to, since I was running out of contacts. I got my new Rx, ordered my contacts, and when I started wearing them, it seemed like my eyes were starting to fight each other. I couldn't focus on one thing clearly, but each eye individually could see really well. Weird. I had a hard time focusing on the speaker at camp last week. He looked clear and blurry at the same time. So, I called my eye doc yesterday and he told me my right eye naturally was just a little sharper than my left, so my contacts should have been adjusted accordingly, but he wrote my Rx for both eyes to have the same strength the first time. He gave me a couple free contacts to try out on my right eye (they were both -4.25 and now my left eye is the same and my right eye is -4.0) and today I've worn the different Rx, and it seems to be much better. Silly eye. Now I have to order more contacts. *sigh*

Calvin's canine

A new tooth sprouted while at camp. I was brushing his teeth one night and my finger felt a new sharp bump. Its one of his upper canines. No wonder he had been sucking so hard on one of his fingers that week. I think now that is came through his gums there is a little bit of relief.

Thunder

Violet has developed a real fear of thunder. Today has been a really stormy day. The Sunday School session was interrupted by a tornado warning (one touched down in Hudson) so everybody in the church building went to interior rooms until the warning lifted. There was lots of thunder and lightning. She was terrified to go to bed for her nap hearing it pound in the sky. Dave laid down her her until she calmed down. As we left VBS tonight, there was more thunder. And its still lightening and thundering outside. She is scared to go to bed, so she's waiting until its all over. I told her I'd play Candyland with her before bed, so I'd better quit blogging and get the game started so our kids can get to sleep at a decent hour.

Pictures from camp and visiting Hardinger grandparents

Our humble abode, room number 19 in Cedar Lodge:Calvin learning the art of checkmate: Violet and her friend Katie - they called this "the spider": Poor Calvin was bound to his stroller most of the week. He was pointing at the horses in this pic. Two very tired campers: Waiting for the parade to begin: My grandpa Loren is in the black hat facing away from the camera: The one picture I got in for the whole week:

Back from camp / Camp review

We got back on Saturday afternoon. I am not really sure how to start this post, I feel like I have a hundred things to record. We were with out phone or internet for a week while at camp since the location is so far in the woods. We could occasionally get cell phone reception on the top deck of the registration office building, but it was not a consistent signal. We made the drive down there in one day. It took about 7 hours of driving. We went to Ozark Family Camp and the location was at Turkey Hill Ranch Bible Camp. This camp runs all through the summer with kids mostly, and the last three weeks are dedicated to families. Turns out this week we went was family reunion week. Our friends Randy and Kim Costello invited us. Randy is the director of that week of camp, so he got us in. I guess its tough to get in since the camp is 100% packed with in a week of the registration letters going out in the mail. THRBC is located 4 miles east of Freeburg, MO. The road to get there is only 4 miles long, but it takes 10-15 min to navigate through the hills, tight curves in the road, and over the rough gravel. The hills, oh my, the hills!! They don't call it Turkey Hill for nothing. The registration office/eating hall is the highest elevation. Everything else is downhill from there. The cabins, the chapel hall, the park, etc...was all down hill. Not very stroller friendly, and made a good work out for the legs that week. All the cars park at an angle, making good use out of a parking break! Violet complained about the hills a lot. Calvin got carried almost everywhere. Violet was especially excited about camp because her friend (Randy and Kim's daughter) Katie was there, too. When we finally got there and parked the vehicle, I knew we got in right at dinner time, so we went straight to eat. Violet and Katie caught eyes and ran towards each other with so much speed I thought they were going to collide...it was like a scene in a movie. Two little friends running at each other with the biggest grins on their faces. They were all giddy and laughing the rest of the night. I don't think either of them ate a bite of their dinner they were so excited. The "camp" was more like a conference. We didn't really expect that. And I don't know how to come across like I'm NOT complaining, because I'm not, because the meetings were great and the teaching was solid and encouraging. But we had certain expectations, and it was very different from what we thought, so we had to quickly adjust. We knew there would be meetings/devotionals since it was a Bible camp, but the entire morning from 9-noon was filled with meetings. The first hour was singing and classes where the kids went somewhere and the men and women split up. Violet went to class, and Calvin stayed with Dave or I - there was no nursery or anything for him to do. He wasn't really thrilled about that, but we got through it. He's really at a difficult age - 18 months. He wanted to run and explore every corner of every building. The afternoons were free to do whatever activity you wanted, but we had to stay close to our cabin since the kids both slept for naps from around 1-3:30. Dave and I went swimming in the pool a couple times, played ping pong one time, and went on a tube float down the river one time. A neighbor offered to keep an ear out for crying while we were gone on the tube float. The one time we allowed someone else to be responsible for our children was the time that Calvin woke up screaming - so she went in to discover he was mad about a dirty diaper - so she changed it and some how got him back to sleep with out disturbing Violet's sleep. The evening was occupied with another meeting. One guy (Warren Henderson) did the majority of the teaching. He covered Exodus 14-16 for the week. The rooms were really like camping. A tiny room, a little bathroom, bunk beds with fiberboard bases and flimsy mattresses. We rearranged the room so that Dave and I could share two bottom bunks put together and we arranged all our stuff on the top bunks so nothing was on the little floor space available. Calvin was in a pack and play crib in the corner, and Violet was in the other corner against out bed at a 90 degree angle in the bottom of another bunk. She wet the bed one night, so I had to haul all her bedding to the laundry room and borrow someone else's detergent. We found an air conditioner that nobody was using and put it in our window, so that brought a little relief to the hot sweaty days and nights. It was also a little challeninging being "the new ones" at the conference in the midst of a bunch of extended families using this week as their family reunion. Everybody was really welcoming and warm, but we still had to meet everybody new for the first time (everybody there already knew everybody and had been coming for years) and learn names every time we turned around. That got a little tiring. But we did meet some great couples and families that we connected with. On Monday night Dave and I had gotten the kids to bed around 9 or so, then didn't really know what to do. Most of the families would go to places they could hang out and talk together, we didn't feel like we fit in much. We ended up sitting on a bench on the deck by our room that night, and a guy from the room on the opposite end of our lodge invited us down to their side of the deck to hang out with his wife and some other friends. It turned out to be pretty fun. They brewed some fresh ground decaf coffee and handed out snacks. We talked for a couple hours and enjoyed some kid-free adult conversation. One of the couples was Randy's brother Mark and his wife Rachel. They are "the farm" that Randy and Kim visit often. They live in southern Iowa. The other couples we talked with were Mike and Julie and Glen and Joy. Dave exchanged information with Mike. He said his sister lives in Waterloo and if they ever came up to visit, they would call us. I think the highlight of the camp was seeing Violet blossom and open up to so many people. Its still weird for me to have a kid who can talk clearly, convey her thoughts and intentions, and handle herself for the most part. She listens pretty well. We still have to work on all the whining! I guess its all part of growing up! She loved running around with Katie, of course, but she became friends with almost all the kids in the class she went to. Julia is Katie's cousin (Mark and Rachel's daughter) and she is 5 - she played really well with her. People seemed to enjoy her silliness. Violet got to go swimming a few times. She clung to her fishy floatie and was all over the pool. Her favorite thing was jumping in the pool with her floatie on. I think she even got her eyes wet a couple times, which is a pretty big deal to her. Calvin took a long time to warm up to swimming. He fussed and cried for almost an hour before he was comfortable playing in the kiddie pool. I think his week was slightly frustrating. There was no where for him to go and play during the meetings, and the playground was totally not suited toward kids his age. He got scared on the slides (they were really rickety and steep) and plenty of dangers. Everyone ended up catching the same cold before the week was over. Stuffy noses, congested sinuses, runny noses, and a cough. All the kids were sniffling and coughing all over camp. On our way down we realized how close we drove past Albia, IA where my grandparents live. We called them as we were driving down and proposed a visit on Friday night on our way home. Grandma Rowena thought that was a great idea, so we stuck to the plan. I am so glad we visited them. Its always nice to see them. She let me do ALL my laundry from the week using her soap and machines, so I got to come home with completely clean packed clothes. Unpacking was easy! Nothing went to my laundry room. We got to see a little parade in the little town of Albia that honored the vets who fought in the war. My grandpa Loren wore his infantry hat and waved to use from his float. Next post I'll include a few pictures.

Scared

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

Tired Wednesday

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

I knew he was getting heavy

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

Thankful spirit

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

Garage Salin'

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

Conversations with Calvin

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

Grandma Butler's 90th Birthday party

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

Yeahhh

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

Violet's fun day

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

Memorable

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

Hardinger get together - Rathbun Lake

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

The boat was resurrected...sort of

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

Some people just don't give up

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

July 4th weekend

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

This house sale is crumbling

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