Vanessa's first pigtails

Not quite long enough to do one ponytail, but two will do for now.  Violet thought it was pretty hilarious that her hair was "done".

Calvin's first day of preschool

He was in a good mood this morning, which always helps when doing something for the first time.  It was a little chilly outside and raining, so he chose to wear a long sleeved shirt.  He picked a Cars shirt that lights up, and found it really exciting that he had two things that lit up (his shoes light up).  After taking Violet to school, we got Calvin ready for his first day of preschool at Orchard Hill Church Preschool, the same preschool where Violet went.  I took some pictures of him by the door as I have taken of Violet year after year.  He is almost the exact same height as her compared to the height she was when she started the 3-4 yr preschool class.  Vanessa wanted in on the picture action, standing by the door and smiling like Calvin. 

Dave was able to get away from work for 30 minutes to come with me.  Calvin walked in with us (Vanessa in stroller) and he found his name and put his backpack on the hook.  When we walked in the classroom, Miss Jesse greeted him with a big smile.  He was pretty quiet, but responded to her with a smiling nod when she asked him if he brought along his happy smile.  He was acting a little shy.  He told Dave he wanted to say his Bible verse to the teacher.  Dave encouraged him to do so, so Calvin walked right up to her and started reciting his verse.  She looked a little confused but kept smiling.  He said "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love in honor giving preference to one another." and most of his speech was hard to understand, so she said excitedly, "really!?" to him.  I think he was happy he did it.  I bet she was a little confused.  We took a couple pictures, gave kisses/hugs and said goodbye, and he walked further into the classroom, probably looking for the train set that he had been talking about for weeks since the open house.  He didn't cry or get upset when we left, he just stayed pretty quiet and mellow, but still happy, so that is a good sign.  I asked him if he wanted me to come in to pick him up, or drive up the van by the side door.  He said "drive up the van."

 He found his name by the right hook.

 Miss Jesse, his teacher.

I will update when I go pick him up in about 20 minutes.  I made him some chocolate chip cookies (with m&ms like he requested) as an after preschool treat to celebrate his first day!  Having a cookie might be the only thing he remembers about the whole day, we'll see.

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Calvin's reactions:

I picked him up and he walked to the van with Miss Jesse with a big smile on his face, he was excited to see me.  He buckled up on his own, his teacher said he had a great day!  I pulled ahead to let him buckle up, then drove home.  He said there was a kid there trying to put a hat on him but he didn't like it, and he said he asked them to stop over and over because he didn't like it.  He said:
- Miss Jesse read a book to them about the first day of school
- snack was something black and peaches (I probably won't ever figure out what the black stuff was, who knows...)  * Later he said the stuff was brown, I wonder if it was chocolate pudding?
- She sang a song but he didn't sing because he didn't like the song.
- He didn't play with the trainset but found other toys, something squishy.
- They played outside in the little park.
- Addison brought the snack, her name starts with the letter A and there is also a D in her name.
- He thought it "was his day but it wasn't." I couldn't figure out what this referred to until I realized he thought it was his day to bring the snack. 

We visited Grandma Rowena this past weekend

She invited us down to Albia for their town's Restoration Days Celebration.  We went for the celebration two years ago (or was it 1 yr ago? I can not remember!).  We drove down right after we picked Violet up from school at 3 pm, and arrived by 5:45.  The two older kids slept in the car, I thought for sure Vanessa would fall asleep but she did not, instead, she sqwaked and squealed the whole time.  Mama Row had a delicious dinner waiting.  She made BBQ beef ribs, okra with tomatoes, corn on the cob (cut off the cob), cornbread, and peach cobbler with ice cream.  There was more but I don't remember.  It may come back to me.  Vanessa terrorized the place, taking things from any available location and relocating them to any other available location.  Ahh!  She was a challenge but Mama Row was pretty calm about it all.  Calvin broke an abacus, but Dave put it back together with a little glue and a rubber band.

Friday night we spent walking around the square.  I just can not believe she is 85 years old.  She doesn't seem to have changed at all since I remember her from when I was a young child.  She's still energetic, healthy, and very physically able.  She told me she's had all her numbers checked and all are normal.  We stopped to look inside the windows of all the stores, she pointed out all the puppets in the store where she got Violet's llama and Calvin's dragon puppets.  People on the square were setting up their tents and things getting ready for the next day's celebration. 

The kids played card games with Mama Row (crazy 8s, Go Fish) and all got in bed shortly after the walk around the block.  Vanessa slept in Grandma's room with Dave and I, she slept in the small bedroom with one twin bed, and V and C shared the room with two twins.  It took awhile to get the kids calmed down, they were so excited to be there.  Grandma's elevator is the main attraction.  Once they finally settled, we tried helping her with some ipad/e-book issues but couldn't resolve them.  The sleeping arrangements worked out well.

The next morning the kids woke up bright and early thanks to the huge skylight window in their bedroom.  Grandma got them dressed and took them outside to the town square to have some pancakes and sausage that the Albia Lion's Club served up in celebration of 90 years of existence.  We woke up later and found a note in the kitchen explaining where they went.  We got ready quickly and joined them for breakfast but they were done eating and walking around.  Dave and I ate, gave Vanessa some breakfast too but she didn't want anything.  We got ready for the parade at 10 am, going back to her place to clean up sticky hands, bring along water, and find a spot to set up our chairs on the corner to watch the parade.  Vanessa sat in the stroller, V and C were on the curb, bolting up every chance they got to snag candy off the street.  They both ate a lot of candy and I think it ruined their appetites for lunch.  The parade was really neat too, lots of stuff...even a little demo from the Chicago Boyz acrobatic team on the street.  Mom, I have a video clip to show you of their performance!

After the parade we went back to her place to use the bathrooms, drop off our candy, put Vanessa down for a nap, and take Violet and Calvin back to the square to watch the Chicago Boyz perform their acrobatics.  Grandma stayed with Vanessa.  The Chicago Boyz team did some cool jump roping tricks, bounced off the mini tramp and did flips over people. 

Mama Row had prepared a macaroni and cheese casserole for lunch, so after the show we went back to her place to eat.  She also served tomatoes and carrots.  Calvin stuck a whole tomato in his mouth and ate it.  It was really good but the kids did not eat much, probably too much candy.  We tried to get them to lay down for a little bit and rest but they were not having it...they giggled and goofed around the whole time. 

They had wanted to see "the jumping things" (big inflatable slides) so we took V and C there, Grandma stayed back with Vanessa.  They jumped and bounced to their heart's content for a couple hours.  They were absolutely filthy.  I don't think I've ever seen them so dirty.  They even climbed in a big "sand"box filled with field corn, so they were up to their heads and down to their toes covered in dirt and corn dust.  We got them in the tub as soon as we got back from all the jumping.  Dave and I sipped fresh cherry lemonade while we watched them jump.  There were 6 inflatable things so they spent a lot of time on each one.

The bath didn't exactly turn out to be a bath - it was more like they took showers.  The tub thing didn't stay up and keep the water plugged.  I got soaked in the showering process...but they both came out sparkling clean.  Mama Row had ingredients ready to start dinner, and got the kids immediately involved making supper.  She had them spread out the pizza dough in the pan and sprinkle on the toppings (broccoli, green peppers, red onions, salami, sauce, and cheese).  Despite my initial feelings about a pizza being good that had broccoli on it, the pizza came out very delicious, and we all enjoyed it.  She also served a spinach salad with cranberries, feta cheese, walnuts and dijon dressing.  Dave cut up a delicious watermelon.

We left around 7 pm after packing our stuff up.

Vanessa discovered where we kept the loot from the parade, and quickly discovered the taste of tootsie rolls. 

 This is as close as she got to smarties.

 A fire truck blasted its siren, kids screamed and plugged their ears!

 Vanessa warmed up to Mama Rowena finally, which she was just tickled about!

 Making pizza

Vanessa is turning into a little climber

I sat down for a short time today, and got up when I realized it had been way too quiet for too long - I wanted to see what Vanessa was doing.  It did not take me long to find her, because she was sitting on TOP of the table in the kitchen eating area.  My oh my...she had climbed on top of the little green trike's seat that was left near the tabe, then on top of a chair, then onto the table.  She was happily pressing buttons of the phone handset that was left there.  She probably wanted a bite of the yogurt on the table, and probably wanted her special blankie and baby you see on the table too.  Yikes!  The trike has been confined to the basement!  She also can climb up the slide outside, and go down it herself.  She's becoming a little independent girl!

And more pics, just because:

I brought up the bounce and spin zebra from storage and gave it to her, she loves it!

 happy girl!

This look is directed toward Calvin and says "don't you dare try take this toy away from me, I'm on it right now!" 

She scrunches up her nose and breathes in and out quickly, so goofy :)

Calvin learned Violet's memory verse

So Violet was assigned a Bible verse to memorize by Friday.  She got the sheet on Monday, and has worked on it all week.  Calvin has picked up the verse just by us hearing it and memorized it quicker and better than Violet did.  Don't tell HER that though, she'd be devastated.  Today, Calvin recited it with out looking (well duh, he can't read, but I wrote it on the white board so she can read it).  It is Romans 12:10, since "honor" is the theme of her week at kindergarten.

This video might need some translation because he doesn't pronounce things very well.  It sounds more like this when he says it "Be kindwy affectonnate to one anoder wif broderwy wuv, in honor, giving preference to one anoder."

"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor, giving preference to one another."

I captured it on camera today. 

Vanessa in the morning

Trying out mobile blogger this morning.  She knew V and C were playing outside and could barely eat breakfast, she was begging to go outside.  I guess I will feed her out there instead.
She also is almost running and learned to walk on her toes.  This blogger doesn't upload the nicest looking mobile phone pictures, I will stick to my regular camera.



Instead of making a new post, I'll update this one.  one 8/25/2011, she saw Dave while I was buckling her in her car seat.  She quickly said "hi dada!" So that marks her first string of two words together!  She also likes to copy sounds and intonations.  She growls when the other kids growl at her. :)

Vanessa slept in til 10am

I am testing out my mobile blogging tool by taking a pic of Vanessa's crazy morning bedhead.
She also can say "hi!"

Thought this was worth blogging about - drive through difference

I was listening to the radio at some point in my driving around today and heard it was a day that Christians can do something special for others in the drive thru lanes by paying for the order of the car behind you.  I also read about the idea online earlier in the day.  So, I thought that would be something nice to do.  I made a point to remember to drive through Starbucks on my way home from picking up Violet, so I did.  I pulled up to the drive through window and there were a couple cars ahead of me.  I was really, really hoping someone else would drive through the line behind me so I could pay for them...but nobody showed up.

I figured as long as I was sitting at the order window I'd get something simple and inexpensive, like an iced coffee.  I pulled up to the window to pay for and pick up my drink, and the lady working in Starbucks said "Oh, the lady ahead of you paid for your drink."  I was floored!  Never once in my life had that ever happened to me!  And the ONE day I sought out to do this for someone else, I ended up being the recipient.  Crazy how the Lord worked that one out. :)

I joined Violet for lunch at school today

Today I went to have lunch with Violet at school at 11:15.  Dave was able to hold down the fort long enough for me to scoot away for an hour.  It was fun to see her for a short time during the day!  She was excited to see me.  I arrived during the eating time when the traffic light in the lunch room was red, and that means no talking.  So I was quickly shushed, and we all ate in silence.  Many goofy faces and silent smiles were passed between me and the other kindergarten students.  Miss Smits turned on the yellow light after awhile and that means you can talk and quickly finish up your lunch.  When the green light turns on, we can get up and throw away trash.  I helped the kids get their trash where it needed to go and I joined the kids for recess.  Violet had fun with the kids, they all seemed pretty nice.  I headed back home right after recess.  Her class lined up and I gave her a high five as she walked down the hallway in line with the rest of the kids to her classroom.

Great first day of kindergarten for Violet - her reactions

Ok, so I feel like I'm blogging a lot about this subject...I guess there's just a lot to say!

I went to pick up Violet today, and when I watched her teacher walk out the back door of the school, all the kids were lined up behind her.  Miss Smits walked with the kids closer to the car.  Violet was the first one in line, so I stepped out of the car, and she ran towards me with her arms open for a BIG hug!  She was an arm full with her big backpack on her back!  I held her for a moment and hugged her.  She was excited to wriggle down and walk with me to the car.  She was really excited, and started talking a million words a minute.  The first thing she said was "mom! Guess what was so fun?!  When we laid down to rest on our pillows, the teacher said she was going to take a loooong feather and tickle our arms when she wanted us to get up!" And that was the beginning of the stories.  Another one was "Mom! Guess what! God ANSWERED MY PRAYER!!  I prayed last night that he would help me make a friend, and I made TWO friends!  He answered me!!!"  She was just beaming at the fact that He answered her!  I love it!  She said the names of her friends are Hannah and Sailor.  I don't know how if it was Selah or Sailor, she couldn't remember exactly.  She said because God answered her prayer, she said she can trust Him now.
I can't reiterate all the stories for memory, so I'm going to start a bullet list of what I remember that she told me:

- she was a little sad when we left in the morning but started playing right away and had fun
- they went outside for recess three times.
- the playground has a big section she called a castle and it had a big ladder
- she saw Amber and Levi Smith.  She thought in her head "is that Levi?" then when his head turned toward her she thought "yeah! it is!" and she said "Hi Levi!" and he said hi back.
- the teacher closed her eyes, counted to 10, and when she finished counting to ten, all the kids had to be sitting
- lunch was a beef sandwich, peaches, carrots, milk and a popsicle.  She ate everything but left a bit of her sandwich because she said she was full
- teacher gave them oreo cookies
- she got really hot during the day (I told her I'd put her hair up in a ponytail for tomorrow, she thought that would be a great idea, with a pretty ribbon)
- she colored, wrote her name on a paper
- daddy guessed her locker number was 15, she said "one inch down!" and he said 14, and she said, yep!
- she said her teacher is really fun
- she said the only bad part of her day was when they all had to come in from the playground.

Today definitely feels different with Violet at school

It has been amazingly quiet.  To my surprise, Calvin has played REALLY well on his own.  I think he was downstairs putting his trains and tracks together for two hours, I was able to get laundry downstairs, sorted and started.  I emptied and loaded the dishwasher uninterrupted, made a batch of muffins (banana with chocolate chips) for snacking, I wanted something special for Violet to have when she gets home from school (still weird to type that).
Vanessa took a nap around noon after lunch and she's still sleeping.  I just love that Dave works from home so in the event of a napping kid, I can leave them sleeping to go run and pick her up. 
Calvin enjoyed a muffin, and is off playing with trucks on the deck.  Its a gorgeous day.  I don't think he misses her much YET...we'll see how the rest of the year pans out.  But today's gone well.
I have had moments of sadness, I am programmed when making meals and getting food ready to get two plates, today I only had to get one plate.  Calvin ate on the table outside alone (in the warm sun like he requested), I sat with him to keep him company. 
Violet was just so sweet and happy this morning, I know she isn't like that all the time, but it was hard to let her go when she was on her best behavior, it just made me want to hug and snuggle her all day, even though she wouldn't have let me.  Then I remember the major attitude she gave me yesterday and the "are you REALLY fighting about that?" moments between Violet and Calvin each day this past summer and I am instantly reassured that we made the right decision to have her go to school....and I am glad that he has a more time to himself and can do what he wants with out Violet bossing him around.  Just need time to adjust to this new schedule and routine. 
I go to pick her up in 15 minutes, I am excited to see her and I wonder what she will have to say!?

Violet comparison pictures, ages 3, 4, and 5 starting school

I don't know how long I'll keep this up, but for now I like it, so I'll post `em.

August 2009 - 3/4 preschool class:

August 2010 - 4/5 preschool class:

August 2011 - kindergarten:

Violet's first day of kindergarten

She told me last night she was a little bit nervous, a little bit scared, and a little bit excited.  She said, "Mom, I don't know how make friends."  So I said, "Well, you could start like this.  'Hi, I'm Violet, what is your name?' " And she said, "yeah! I can do that!" So, I think she'll be just fine. :)
 
The Lord blessed our morning and "drop off" and made it a positive experience!  This morning wasn't as bad as I expected.  And by "bad"...I meant how early it was.  I guess the natural "glass half empty" side of me was expecting grumpy inconsolable kids because we had to wake them up earlier than they've woken up all summer.  Me included.  I woke up at 6:15 (normally I get up at 7:45) and the hardest part was NOT hitting snooze and going back to sleep.  I got out of bed and into the shower so I could get ready before all the kids woke up.  Since it was her first day, our whole family went with her for the drop off, the rest of the days either Dave or I will take her each school day.  I was showered and ready in 30 minutes, then Dave took my spot in the bathroom.  I woke up Violet out of a dead sleep.  I picked her up and took her downstairs to the big comfy rocking chair and rocked her for a couple minutes.  She slept on my shoulder and slowly woke up, rubbing her eyes.  She was cheerful though.  She smiled and kept snugging with me for another minute, then I got her dressed and got breakfast started.  She requested cream of wheat, so I made her a bowl. 

Dave came downstairs, then shortly after that, Calvin came downstairs.  He was wondering why everybody was awake.  He is usually the first one up and waking US up.  Violet stayed cheerful, she was really smiley and sweet, we snapped a few pictures, I got Vanessa out of bed (she was cheerful too! wow! her first word was "baba?" which means "pick up ALL my blankets and my little doll and take me downstairs!")  She can't leave a single blanket in her crib, she insists in me picking them all up.  The moment I lay her down to change her diaper though, she shoves them off her.

Violet posed like a pro for all her pictures...she knows her mama likes to snap a ton of pictures.  On the way, she was quiet, Dave talked to her about a few things.  She got a little half smile when we got close, and when we walked into the school I could tell she felt confident because she smiled at everyone she knew.  At Waterloo Christian School, there are quite a few people that go to our church, so there were a lot of friendly familiar faces smiling back at here.  We saw Bobbie and Teresa, Whitney, and Doriece Stickfort.  At the end of the hallway is the K classroom.  There was a short line, and we waited behind 2 other families.  Miss Smits was behind the "check in" table, and when it was our turn, she gave Violet a huge smile and she walked right up.  Miss Smits said welcome, and asked her if she brought a cold lunch or if she wanted a hot one.  She said "hot lunch".  I don't think she knew what the difference was, we didn't pack her food so she will eat whatever is served for lunch there.  We had a moment or two to take a couple pictures then, one with dad, one with mom, and then a teacher's assistant took her backpack and school supplies, and we said goodbye.  She walked right into her classroom and didn't even look back.  I was a little sad, but there was so much commotion going on in the hallway and I had to grab Calvin's hand to guide him out the right way with Dave pushing the stroller with Vanessa in it.  We chatted with some people on the way out the door, got in the van, and took off.  So that's it!  I'll go get her at 3 pm.  I am sure I'll hear lots of things about her day later.

Calvin chose to ride back in Violet's car seat so he could see Vanessa.  On the way home he got grumpy because he wanted to go to the school's playground, but when we told him his preschool would have his own playground, he wanted to know what it looked like.  We told him the same one near our house with the little bridge and he got even grumpier because he doesn't like that playground.  He got really thirsty (there was no water in the car) so the ride back to our house was a little unpleasant with Calvin's attitude.  I fed myself and Vanessa breakfast while he played.  He quickly changed when we got home, grabbing stampers out of the closet, stamping paper, getting into playdough, finding his rockets, and now he's watching some short Cat in the Hat videos on pbskids.org on my other computer so I could sit and blog.

Now for some pics:

"Quite the party!"

Today I took a walk with the kids.  I let Violet and Calvin go ahead of me on their trikes and I pushed Vanessa in a stroller.  Calvin stopped to concentrate on something on the sidewalk, and when I caught up to him, he was watching a swarm of ants attack a dead cicada bug.  He was fascinated with it, watching in silence for awhile.  He then said, "huh! That's quite the party!" and hopped on his trike and kept riding.  haa!

God through the kid's eyes

I am trying to capture some of the comments the kids have had about God lately.  They are so fascinated by the fact that He's so...powerful and can seemingly do ANYTHING in their minds.  Some examples (not conversations, just comments):

Calvin: "Mom, can God swim with no water?"  (on the way home from swimming lessons)

Violet: "Mom, is God faster than ANYTHING!?"  (moves her finger from one side of her body to the other and moves it as fast as she can, saying God moves faster than that)

Calvin: "Mom, can God hear us?  How does he hear us?"  Violet responded by saying, "Yes, Calvin, he can hear us, even if we whisper, you don't have to yell."  Calvin then whispers, "God, you are awesome!" 

Another time we were driving home from Waterloo after running a few errands and it was downpouring rain the whole morning and the whole way there.  On the way home, we came to a stoplight and the rain suddenly stopped and the sun came beaming through the clouds.  Violet said "HEY!  I just prayed quietly that it would stop raining, and God HEARD ME!   He answered my prayer!"  and she was beaming herself in the backseat.  It made me smile.

I know there are more, when I remember I'll update this post.

Summer is wrapping up...family update

The pool is done....poor kids (yeah right).  It has a hole in the bottom lining and water won't stay in it, and my attempt at patching was a failure.  So this sort of marks the "end" of summer, when the pool isn't on the deck.  I think that has been the best summer activity over the last three months (which have absolutely FLOWN by).  Violet and Calvin have a mom that spoils them by dragging the hose connected to the hot water spigot in the garage to the pool and warming it up for them so they can swim, and the effort of dragging the hose across the house to warm it up usually pays off well.  Two or three hours would go by, and they would still be happily splashing and swimming in the water.  Calvin gains confidence by seeing Violet do things.  He goes under water and flips around like a fish.  However, at swimming lessons the last few weeks, all he did was scream and freak out, so I didn't go to the last 4 classes with him, he happily stayed dry and watched Violet in her lessons.  I guess it was just too early and too cold at The Falls for him to get comfortable enough to let me hold him in a back float.  Oh well, next year we'll try something else.
Violet however, has had an amazing summer.  She enjoyed learning to swim, and is very excited about it!  Dave gave her confidence at a hotel pool a few weeks ago by telling her she can float by holding her breath.  She since then has done 15 bobs in a row at swimming lessons, swam across the length of the pool where they have lessons (probaby 20 feet), can do back and front float alone, dive for rings and toys at the bottom of the pool (3 feet 6 inches deep), use the kick board to go backwards and forwards, jump off the diving board with no life jacket and swim to the edge, and who knows what else.  The feeling of being uncomfortable underwater is NO longer.  The girl who used to freak out in the bath if water got near her eyes.  She's certainly grown up!! 

The next year is going to be a big change for this family, as we adjust to a "school schedule".  This means going to bed earlier, getting up earlier, and taking Violet to and from Waterloo Christian School Monday through Friday, and taking Calvin to preschool Tues and Thurs mornings. 

I know Calvin will miss Violet when she's at school.  They have played SO well this summer together, and I know they thoroughly enjoy each other's company.  Yes, they absolutely fight like siblings, but they also have wild imaginations and their stories/ideas carry them for hours, making all sorts of "set ups" with their blocks, legos, and train tracks in the basement. 

I hope Calvin and Vanessa connect more.  So far, Calvin likes to run and chase her, and she laughs and giggles when he does.  He's rough, and I'm constantly reminding him to be gentle with her, and not to sit on her and jump.  Even though she laughs when he sits on her, I still don't trust him to THINK with his head and make a conscious decision to not hurt her somehow.  Not that he would intentionally hurt her, he just lacks logic...what do I expect...he's a 3 yr old rambunctious boy!

I'm working on getting together Violet's "school uniform" wardrobe ~ which will be solid color pants (khakis) and polo type shirts and dress shirts.  The polos can be solid, stripes, polka dots, or prints, just not graphics or writing.  I got her some pretty and sparkly hair ribbons to put in her hair for some pizazz, the girl LOVES things sparkly and pretty. 

I hope Calvin does well in preschool.  I'm slightly nervous about him starting, simply because the only experience he's only had in a classroom setting is Sunday School, and that is only for an hour a week, and its with people and friends he knows well.  This environment will be completely new, but the idea of going to preschool is not new.  The teachers already know Calvin from what seems like the hundred times I dropped Violet off and picked her up the last two years.  Especially this last spring "semester" Violet went to Orchard Hill Church Preschool, every time the van door opened and the teacher would be there waiting to pick her up, Calvin would try chime in the conversation and try tell the teachers something.  They enjoyed the interaction too, so at least there is that familiarity.  I'm sure he'll do fine, I just have parent jitters.  He tends to have male performance anxiety...yep...that's what I'm going to call it, cuz he's a boy and freaks out and throws a screaming fit if he tries to do something and it doesn't go as he planned.  When I told him he will get a chance to be the leader at preschool and bring the snack some times, he got pretty excited about that.

I have to say one thing about Calvin.  He asks me the same question every.single.day.  He says, "Mom, can you eat fish?"  I always say, "yes".  And he says "But you have to kill it first." 

Vanessa is changing a ton too, I made a post about her recently so I won't say much.  She is learning a lot, and her latest is backing up towards me and sitting down and laying down between my legs when she catches sight of her toothbrush.  She lays down, spreads her arms out, and opens her mouth with out any prompting on my behalf.  Good job Vanessa!  She is still taking an iron supplement twice a day..if I remember to give it to her that often.  Its hard to keep up with it.  It makes her stools black...ick.  I hope at her 15 month appointment they find her iron levels to be normal so I can stop the supplement.  She has adjusted well to not nursing anymore, drinks her whole milk happily, and eats most food.  Tonight at dinner I used two forks separately and gave her a fork full of food (so she could take the fork with food on it and release the empty one), she put it in her mouth on her own, and I kept doing that til she was full.  She ate beef filet and mixed veggies.  She doesn't like thin cheese slices, she likes the cheese in big chunks.  Grapes cut in half are still a favorite snack.

Dave and I are getting into a more regular exercise routine.  We try go running every other day, we take turns after the kids go to bed.  It was really hard to start, hard to GO when you don't feel like exercising at the end of a busy day, but at the end of the run, we both feel better.  Wouldn't hurt either of us to lose a few pounds either.  My first run was 2.4 miles, my last one was 3.5.   It helps to have great music to keep my mind distracted. 

My prayer for the family is (and a prayer request if you are reading) that we smoothly adjust to this new "early to bed, early to rise" routine.  Dave and I are not morning people....and we're going to HAVE to be morning people to pull off this school routine.  Her first day of school is Thursday, Aug 18.

Vanessa - 14 month update (6th & 7th teeth came in)

She will be 14 months when she wakes up tomorrow morning.  I don't know how much she weighs, but I can tell she is gaining, because she's starting to feel like a lug instead of a little baby in my arm. 

I nursed her for the last time last night before bed.  Today was the first full day of not nursing at all.  I think she's ready to be done, I'm not producing much and I don't want her to grow into being an older toddler and wanting to nurse, so its time to stop.  It is always sad for me when I nurse, because it is something I enjoy.  But this little girl is turning into a crazy sweet little goofy girl and I'm excited to see her keep changing as time goes on. 

She is an odd eater.  She has moments of being super picky, and times when she can shove anything in sight into her mouth and swallow it.  She doesn't like oatmeal like the other two kids.  She loves raisins, cold cereal soaked in milk (favorite is honey nut cheerios), bananas, peaches, cooked carrots, granola bars, toast with jelly or peanut butter, applesauce, yogurt, cheese chunks, and noodles.  I know there's more, but those tend to be her staples.  She also loves anything out of a straw sippy cup - whole milk, water, or watered down juice on occasion.

She loves playing peekaboo, carrying two blankets around (one in each hand), and relocating any important object of mine to mysterious locations around the house.  I found my flip flops in the little doll baby crib upstairs in the hallway last week.  She likes to snag the kitchen towels off the bar by the stove.  She's also a cabinet handle grabber, investigating any cabinet items she is not supposed to be into.  She does NOT like to be sectioned off or shut into a room alone.  Sometimes Violet and Calvin will pick her up and move her so she's "not in their way" and she doesn't like it one bit. 

She is pretty ticklish too.  I painted her toenails for the first time yesterday.  Violet thought that was pretty cute.

Her 7th tooth came in, a right molar.

Lincoln Family Reunion - Smithville, TN July 2011

so far this is going to be a "in order in the events" blog for my reminder, I'll fill in the details later. 

Rented a vehicle for the trip (new Buick Enclave) because our van needed some work and wasn't reliable.

-left Wednesday evening, around 5:45.  It was a mad rush to get ready because I was alone with the kids and frustrated trying to pack up waiting for Dave to drive home from MN.  Had LC pizza for supper before leaving, froze extras.
- drove to St. Louis, I drove the whole way, Dave worked in the car on his laptop using his Verizon internet connection.  We booked our hotel while driving, since we weren't exactly sure where we were going to stop.  We stopped at the Collinsville Hampton Inn around midnight, got checked in, and got kids to bed asap. 

Thursday:
The next morning we got breakfast, then let the kid swim in the pool for a short time. 
Back on the road after reconfiguring the car seats in the truck so Violet could help take care of Vanessa - both girls were in the third row.  We made a deal with each kid that after lunch, if they took a nap in the car, they could watch a movie.  Grandma Jo got each kid a portable movie player, which for the kids, made the car an attractive ride.  Made a few stops for food and bathroom breaks, arrived in Smithville, TN around 7 pm, checked out the cabin at Lakeside Resort (nice!) and drove over to Lydia's lake cabin for dinner.  She served BBQ ribs, cornbread, salad and fruit pizza-pie.  Carol was there with her 4 kids, my kids took well to the De'Felice kids.  Vanessa clutched me the entire time, wouldn't go to anybody.  She warmed up after an hour of hanging onto me and walked around for awhile.  Night got late, so we got back in the truck and decided to make a run to the local Walmart to get a few groceries.  Violet came with me, my sis, and my parents.  We wandered up and down the aisles to get some stuff...coffee, milk, eggs, fruit, lunch meat, yogurt, peanut butter, bread....Dave came inside with Calvin and Vanessa to use the bathroom, I picked up a sippy cup for Vanessa, paid...then we left to head back to the cabin and put the kids to bed.   Vanessa slept in the portable crib in the closet of the room Violet and Calvin shared.

Friday:

Woke up, mom was making kids breakfast.  She had gotten Vanessa up too.  We talked about what to do and decided on hiking in Burgess Falls.  Mom, dad, Rachel left before us, we got there and hiked the paths that were bumpy, uphill, downhill, around curves, up steps, down steps, and at moments had scenic overlooks that featured waterfalls, it was beautiful.  The moving water roared.  I discovered half way through our little hike that Vanessa's diaper was very messy...and I was with no diaper bag.  I threw away what I could, we washed her off with water from a bottled water, and she went diaperless the whole walk back. 

Ate lunch at cabin, sandwiches and fruit.  Kids napped.  My mom and sister Rachel went to a nearby arts and crafts museum and looked at all the stuff on display.  Mom bought a painted clay plate that featured a landscape with hay bales.  On the way back we stopped at Hurricane Bridge and took some pictures of the scenery.  We decided to check out the resort's pool, so after they woke up from their naps, we took the kids swimming at the swimming pool, it was incredibly warm water. Not much of a relief on a hot day. But the kids had fun. I had to coax Calvin to get in the water with me.  Friday evening was at Lydia's, she served dinner at 7, fried catfish and chicken, french fries, hushpuppies, corn on the cob, and lemon cake for dessert.

That night we got back to our cabin very late, I moved Vanessa into our room. She slept terriby, waking up to scream every couple hours.  Every time I picked her up to comfort her she clutched to me super tightly and didn't want me to let her go. 

Saturday was our designated day to rent pontoon boats and hang out on the lake all day. 
I put two french braids in Violet's hair.  We packed up our stuff and headed for the marina at the resort waiting for Lydia and others to drive up with the pontoon boats they rented for the day.  We all got on and all 3 boats drove to a smaller cove by the shore, anchored and tied together.  Violet and Calvin both got in the water, both wearing life jackets.  Calvin wanted someone to hold him the whole time, he jumped right into Jacklyn's arms.  Violet was happy to swim on her own with her life jacket all over the place.  Vanessa was really cranky, and took a nap in her stroller.  While she slept, I got in the water with everybody else.  Danny and Dana brought their ski boat and took Dave and I waterskiing.  Mark and Susan brought their ski boat too, they took others out skiing.

Violet got a chance to try waterskiing.  She held onto a bar that attached to the boat and put on child size skis and Dave helped her get going, she held on for a few moments til her skis fell off.  She was scared to let go of the bar on the boat but got over that fear when she realized the boat could turn around and come back to get her.  I was proud of her for being brave and trying it. 

I ended up with Violet and Calvin at some point in Mark and Susan's boat on the way back to the resort boat slips to pick up our packaged lunches.  We collected 40 box lunches and came back to the rest and we all ate lunch together on the boats. 

The boating came to an end a few hours after lunch, we had all had enough swimming and sun.  We headed back to our cabin and the walk UP the hill was long and hard, both kids were exhausted and wanted to be held, which was tough.  It was hard enough pushing a stroller up a 45 degree hill.  We made it...and the kids immediately got changed and fell asleep in their beds for a long nap.  We had to wake them up around 6:30 to get dressed to head over to Mark and Susan's house for dinner.  Violet and Vanessa wore their yellow dresses.  Mark's house was hard to find, lots of twisty roads and difficult directions, but we made it.  Very gorgeous house, it had a perfect view of the lake.  They served pulled pork sandwiches, a variety of salads, watermelon, and brownies.  Kids enjoyed running around with the other kids, Violet and Lily hung out a lot.  Violet told me when they got together for the first time at Lydia's the first night "Mom, I think we're friends." :)  Mark let off three chinese lanterns into the dark night sky, which floated up high and eventually disappeared.  It was a great place to end up in a conversation with anybody that walked by.  Vanessa continued to be a mama's girl, not wanting to hang out with anybody except me.

The night got late, we left after dark, and went back to the cabin to put the kids to sleep.  After they went to bed, Rachel re-taught me how to play cribbage, and Dave picked up on it too.  Dave's first hand he ended up scoring 24 points, a crazy high record, but ended up losing the game.  My dad sat next to me and advised me of my next moves but Rachel won the game.

Sunday was a "whatever" day.  Nothing was planned, we did have a plan to leave for St. Louis but didn't have a set time.  We ate breakfast in the cabin, I did some laundry, packed up our stuff, loaded the car (this all took hours), and went to Lydia's to hang out and say goodbyes.  She was emptying her fridge of all the leftovers so we helped her and ate lunch there.  Kids played with their dogs, throwing the ball and playing fetch.

My mom and dad and Rachel all had plans to stay in Nashville before their flights out in the morning, so we all caravaned to Nashville and found a local ice cream shop and ate treats together called Pied Piper Creamery.  It was only an hour from Smithville to Nashville, I rode with mom and Rachel in their car, Dad rode with Dave and the kids.  Nice to have some "girl" time in the car!

Our drive back to St. Louis I think was uneventful.  I thought we were never going to get out of Nashville, because before we got on the highway, we had to stop and change Vanessa's diaper twice.  We told the kids once they had eaten supper and taken a nap, then they could watch movies.  That plan usually worked well, they did just that, and settled into watch Veggie Tales and Thomas the Train.  I think Vanessa took a nap, I don't remember much of the drive, other than it was long.  I worked on booking a hotel room in the passenger seat, Dave drove.  We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Edwardsville (just east of St. Louis) and the night went smoothly. 

Monday morning after breakfast we let the kids swim before taking off for Iowa.  Dave was in the pool with Violet, Calvin just stayed near the steps, and Vanessa stayed in the stroller.  Dave worked with Violet on swimming, and helped her a lot.  He told her to hold her breath and she'd float, which gave her confidence to swim on her own across the pool.  By the time she was done, she had jumped in the deep end all by herself, rose to the top, and swam back to the edge.  She was floating on her back, swimming backwards, going under water, just swimming like a little fish, I could tell she was elated and excited with her new swimming ability.  I'm glad she had that time to get some swimming in because we've been in swimming lessons all week at The Falls, and the class I signed her up into has her doing underwater bobs, back and front floats, kicking, swimming, and all sorts of things I think she may have been uncomfortable doing had she hadn't gained that swimming confidence the weekend prior.

So we got back to Iowa sometime around 5 or 6 in the evening.  Lots of stops later, food and bathroom breaks....we made it.  Home sweet home.  And a week of catch up.  I had so much to do...laundry, open stacks of mail, meal plan and go shopping because we didn't have much in our cupboards, catch up on finances and balance the checkbook, write my blog so I didn't forget what we did, get ready for the next week full of swimming lessons, it has been a solid week of returning to "normal operations" since coming back.  But it was all worth it!!

FYI:

Those I can remember who came to the family event:
-Lydia and Paul Kingsborough (Lydia is my Grandma Rowena's sister)
-Grandma Rowena Hardinger
-Ruth Hardinger and Michael Norton
-Rachel Hardinger
-Jon and Joanne Hardinger
-Angelo and Carol De'Felice and their 4 kids: Jacklyn, Caroline, Christopher, and Nicholas
-Danny Deislinger and Dana Abraham and their 2 kids, Jared and Alexis
-Lucy Abraham (my Grandma's sister)
-Bob and Ashley Abraham and their two kids, Lily and Rex
-Scott and Jill Kingsborough and their son, Cole
-Mark and Susan Lincoln
-Deen and Carol Lincoln
-Ben and Pollye Lincoln

My morning conversation with Calvin

Gotta love the randomness of my 3 1/2 hr old little boy.  Bright and early, before breakfast:

Calvin: "Mom, can I have some minty gum?"
Me: "No"
Calvin: "Ok, I'll catch dust then."   - then proceeded to try catch dust flecks in the air for 10 minutes

Vanessa is officially a walker 100% of the time

She is now on her feet nearly every single time I turn around and see her.  She walks with more confidence, falling very little now, and can stand up anywhere in the middle of a room.  Its still crazy to me to see her up and walking!!  Just a few weeks ago she was crawling everywhere. 

Dave found this quote and I think its so true: "Trying to clean up a house with kids running around is like trying to brush your teeth while eating an oreo cookie."

Vanessa is into EVERYTHING...I simply can not keep up.  The three kids are like a tornado moving any object that is moveable to somewhere else.  Toys everywhere, papers I thought were in one place are in another, etc.  I found one of my flip flops that I wear frequently upstairs in the hallway inside a baby doll crib.  I blame that one on Vanessa.  I used to be really on top of picking up toys and getting all the little pieces that go together in the right spot or container, putting every puzzle piece in the right spot...but MAN that is seemingly impossible lately.

Violet is obsessed with soft hair and clicking

Violet's latest "obsessions" are soft hair and clicking or clucking her tongue.  I don't have a clue where the tongue clucking came from, but if she's not eating or talking, her tongue is moving in her mouth making a constant clucking noise.  Depending on my mood, it is either incredibly irritating or really funny.
She is also really concerned about her hair being soft and tangle free.  She likes to feel it with her hands and "pet" her head where it is soft and exclaim how soft it is, and wants me to feel it all the time.  She really enjoys her soft hair after it is dry after a bath.  When its tangly, she gets upset.

Summer stuff

The inflatable pool on the deck has become a favorite thing lately for Violet and Calvin.  The day I stopped insisting they play in their swimsuits and let them swim in their underwear was the day they started loving swimming.  I fill it up frequently for them with hot water using the hose and the hot water spigot from the garage, and they will spend many hours splashing and playing.  It is sort of deep, probably 2 feet, but enough for Violet to "swim" without touching the bottom.  She likes putting on her goggles and Calvin just simply likes to splash and jump.  They jump into the pool off the little plastic picnic table they call their "diving board".  Calvin is always asking me if he can swim in his wet undies.

 Giggling their heads off because they discovered how to flop backwards and get their heads wet while eating a snack.

Another new thing is we tried putting Calvin and Violet together in Violet's room again.  We tried it last summer when they were 4 and 2, and Calvin was too immature to handle the togetherness, he kept getting out of his bed and messing with stuff.  This year is better - the transition was motivated by the kids BOTH complaining about sleeping alone.  We had spent a couple nights at the Amana Colonies last weekend and they shared a bed and loved it.  The first night home they were both in tears about sleeping in their beds in a room alone...so we thought this might be a good time to make the switch.  If this continues to go smoothly for a few weeks we'll move Vanessa's crib to Calvin's room and have a dedicated guest room again.

They have shared a room for the last 3 nights, and so far so good.  Calvin always wakes up first, and depending on how deep Violet is sleeping, she might wake up, she might not.

Amana Colonies - July 8-10, 2010

Our family packed up and went to the Amana Colonies last weekend to visit my Grandma Rowena and two ladies from Germany, Anna and her daughter Miriam.  Anna was a foreign exchanged student who lived at Grandpa Loren and Grandma Rowena's house back in the 1970s.  I met her once when I took a trip to Germany and Austria when I was 15, but I barely remember meeting her. 

My Grandma Row is a big advocate and leader getting the family together.  I can't really say we were brimming with excitement about making the trip there, but it turned out to be a nicer weekend than we expected.  The bed and breakfast where we stayed was really nice, the room was big and spacious, the kids slept well, and breakfast was delicious.  We found things to do on Saturday (furniture shop, broom making factory, park for the kids, nice cafe for lunch, and naps).  Fri and Sat dinners were together with the family at two different restaurants there, both were great. 

Anna and Miriam brought us little things from Germany (mouse pads, wood toys for the kids, plastic figurines of the pedestrian traffic signals in Germany), and Mama Rowena had a little "Christmas in July" for the kids, she brought them presents all wrapped up.  They were puppets - a Llama for Violet, a dragon for Calvin (which he thought was real), and a little squirrel for Vanessa.

We made the trip back home early Sunday morning to make it back to Bethany Bible Chapel by 10:30 so Dave could teach his SS class.

Overheard this conversation:

Calvin: Violet, I'm wearing a muscle shirt.  I'm all strong and mighty!
Violet: Yea!
Calvin: And you're wearing a muscle shirt too! (she was wearing a sleeveless dress)  No wait, you're a princess!
Violet: yeah!
Calvin: I go wike dis (then pretends to flex muscles).
Violet: And I go like this! (dances and twirls across the room)

:D

Vanessa stood up on her own

Besides taking a lot more steps lately, today she stood up to standing on her own with no assistance.  Good job Vanessa!

Violet sang the National Anthem for BBC today

She got the chance to sing the Star Spangled Banner again for BBC today for special music.  We asked Mark W. to accompany her on the piano this time (last year was solo).  She did so great, I was very proud of her.  She wanted Dave to stand up there with her but he convinced her to go by herself.  A few moments after she started the entire crowd stood up, which I thought would thrown her off but she kept on going.  I was recording the song with my camera on the tripod from the back of the room and when the crowd stood up, I lost view, so I had to pick up the tripod and aim my best.  She told me she wants to learn a different song for next time. :)  Apparently she is star-spangled-out.  This year was different how she responded to people compared to last year.  She barely acknowledged people complimenting her, this year she would say a little "thanks".  So that is improvement.

My 30th birthday

I had the priviledge of turning 30 years old last week Wednesday.  It was a fantastic day.  Dave got up early and cooked me a yummy breakfast (scrambled eggs, sausage, and hashbrowns).  We helped out with the younger kid's games at BBC's VBS program, then had plans to spend the afternoon at Lost Island Waterpark.  My friend Julie heard our plans and offered to watch Vanessa for us so we could more easily enjoy the time with the two older, more capable kids.  That was a wonderful present.  I set up Vanessa's portable crib in Julie's house and she took a long 2 hr nap.  Julie got her up and played with her for another hour until we picked her up.  Julie said Vanessa wouldn't let her out of her sight.

As soon as I laid Vanessa down for a nap at Julie's, we left for the waterpark in Waterloo.  We parked int he parking lot there, got the kids changed into their suits, rubbed them thoroughly with sunblock, and decided to eat lunch there first.  After some cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches, we were "lost" in Lost Island not really knowing where to start.  We bounced on floaties in the wave pool at first.  Violet enjoyed that a lot.  We wanted to find some rides that the kids could go on, so we wandered around figuring out the layout of everything there was to do there.  Violet and I found a "rollercoaster" style ride we went on together.  Dave took Calvin down another one.  Violet got to sit right in the front seat of the floaty-boat and I was right behind her.  It was pretty fun!!  We went up, down, around circles, curves, in dark tunnels, got sprayed with water the whole time (which was kindof annoying with my contacts, had to nearly squeeze my eyes shut the whole time), and came to a quick halt at the end of the ride.  Violet was giggling hysterically - amazed at the ride.  She loved it! 

We met up with Dave and Calvin, and found out they had found another ride to go on that was kid appropriate.  We explored many other areas - and found a little slide that the kids could go on alone - but the water was pretty deep so I waited at the bottom to catch them.  Calvin needed catching, Violet did not.  She could touch in the water and insisted on doing EVERYTHING by herself.  She even instructed me to stand away from the end of the slide so I could watch her from afar.  Calvin clung to either Dave or I in any deep water - he was a bit more fearful.

We moved on to more slides the kids would enjoy.  We found one (yellow) that all of us could sit in together and go down. 

The time went quick.  We left at 4:15 pm to go pick up Vanessa.  We got her, came home, and Dave pulled the cake out of the fridge he and the kids had made the night before (I was at a meeting out of the house and went shopping late at night so I wasn't home).  The cake was yellow and frosted with chocolate frosting and coated with M&Ms that said "Maria 30!" on it.   We snapped a few pictures, ate some cake, and then Dave left for an hour with his chainsaw to help with a bunch of guys from BBC to help a lady that had a huge tree fall on her property.  He came back with in the hour.  He asked Noelle to babysit also, which was a surprise to me!  He took me out on a date - and it was such a beautiful night that we found a restaurant on Main St. and ate our meal outside.  Los Cabos makes good mexican food so we went there.  We walked around Main St. for awhile, then decided to walk down by the river.  We sat there for awhile, then decided going to Four Queens would wrap up the night well - I got a turtle sundae and Dave got a banana split.

Overall, it was a GREAT day.  I felt very loved, adored, and I counted my blessings. 

Dave pulled off another little surprise - and invited my grandma Rowena, my brother Jay, and my dad to come over on Friday night for a family birthday celebration for me.  He told me about it on Thursday night.  My grandma brought burgers, cheese slices, and a delicious coconut cake.  My dad brought buns for the burgers, fresh peas from his garden, and Dave whipped up a macaroni salad.  The only mishap of the night was the first batch of noodles for the macaroni salad had to be thrown away, because Dave found shards of glass in the noodles.  He had poured the cooked macaroni into a decorative bowl that we rarely use, and sweeping the edge of the rim of the bowl he found glass chipping off.  He was frustrated, but made a quick run to the store to get more noodles and other ingredients for the salad.  He pulled it off and made another batch quickly.  Dinner was great!  Having family there was really nice too.  We walked outside and talked in the gazebo, and finished the night by using the new piano instrument we got to play some songs and we danced the night away.  Jay left the same night to go back home.  My grandma was dancing with Calvin in his pajamas, and others paired up.  The following morning I was surprised to find out I had woken up BEFORE my grandma Rowena.  She got to sleep in and get a full night's rest in the dark guest room.  She said she can't even remember the last time she slept in.  She ate oatmeal with blueberries and walnuts for breakfast with the kids (they ate oatmeal too), and Dave cooked up another yummy breakfast - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, and fresh squeeze orange juice.  My dad left, and my grandma and I headed out for a little fabric shopping.  I did not have a project in mind to work on, so I helped her pick out three fabrics that coordinated and will go on the alter at her church.  She wanted to look for water shoes but didn't find any she liked at Scheels.  We came back home, loaded up her stuff, and she took off.

Fun moments occured, sweet memories resulted. 

I love my family!  Thank you Lord. :)

Vanessa's first few steps

Not the first official steps, but here is a few she decided to take on her own today.

I had leftover fabric, and it turned into a dress for Vanessa!

I shrunk down the pattern I had to make a dress for Vanessa - it was a little easier because I did not patch it, but instead, kept each layer one solid strip of fabric.  I love how it turned out!  This project was low priority...and still took me about three weeks.  She is getting used to wearing dresses still - she can't walk much and gets frustrated when crawling with a big skirt on.  Maybe this will motivate her to walk more.  She took a nap in this dress and when I got her out of bed, she had pulled on the shoulder strap ties and the ties came apart, and the dress was around her waist. So funny!

Our house is a construction zone

The gazebo needed new cement pillars to sit on, so there has been a team of guys working on moving it, digging and pouring new cement, and putting it back on its new foundation. 

Klunder's guys are tearing off our roof, and putting on a new one.

Landscapers are about to descent on the yard at the end of this week!

Vanessa took more steps

She pulled up to stand next to a chair and took off walking, maybe 5 steps.  She's a little stinker and will only walk on her terms.  She prefers to crawl or "knee-walk" still. 
We got her 1 yr pictures taken, and had to narrow down 100+ pics at the photo studio down to one.  It was hard but we love the one we chose.  I'll try post it later.

Rachel has been here for the week

Even though she's traveled across Iowa to talk to lots of different orthodontists, she's spend a good amount of time with our family and its been very nice!  We took the kids to the Iowa City Children's Museum on Tuesday for most of the morning/afternoon, and she was gracious enough to babysit all 3 kids and put them to bed so Dave and I could go out on a date for our 8th anniversary.  We got some pizza at Tony's on Main Street, a few chocolates from Indulgence, and then went to see a move in Waterloo.

Tomorrow morning we plan to go strawberry picking.  And I want to make some yummy strawberry jam!

"Done!" ~ Calvin

Calvin's morning has become quite a ritual.  He is always the first one to wake up, and wakes me up by yelling from his bathroom "Dooooone!" because he has gone poop and needs help wiping.  He's always been a morning-goer, since he was a baby.  I'd always find a dirty surprise in his morning diaper.  At least he's predictable about one thing! 

What prompted me to blog about this was the fact that every single morning has started THE SAME since last week.  About 7 am, I hear him yelling, I stumble out of bed, throw on my bathrobe, and go help him.  I wish I was a morning person...mornings might be easier for me.

Violet and Calvin shared Violet's twin bed last night

Last night as Dave was putting the kids to bed, it started thundering really loudly.  One crack of thunder even startled me!  Calvin is very scared of thunder, so Dave came up with the idea of letting them sleep together.  Calvin and Violet snuggled up together in Violet's bed.  We peeked at them before we went to bed and both were sound asleep, so we just left them.  Violet was on the left side of the bed on her back, and her left arm was hanging straight out.  Calvin was curled up facing her snuggled in his favorite blue blanket.  Violet looked a little uncomfortable.  Apparently they slept that way all night.  Calvin was the first one awake.  Violet told me that he said "I will hug you if I hear thunder!" How sweet.  They really do love each other!

Vanessa's 12 month doctor check-up

This morning I took the kids to the pediatrician for Vanessa's 12 month well-baby check up.  Violet and Calvin were pretty good troopers.  I was anticipating arguments about who got to hit which buttons in the elevator, but surpringly, Violet solved the problem by allowing Calvin to hit the "up" button by making a deal with him, if she could hit the #4 once we got IN the elevator.  It actually worked, both did their part and avoided fighting.  I'm glad to see her making the choice to step back and let Calvin go first sometimes.  I should have praised her now that I look back at the situation but I was probably focused on something else.  I will mention it to her tomrrow.  The only difficult part of the appointment was when Calvin discovered the foot pedal that operated the metal garbage can lid in the exam room.  He kept stepping on it, banging the metal lid against the wall and making a very loud BANG.  I made him sit in the stroller.  Violet knew Vanessa had to get some shots, and was anticipating that moment.  We got there at 8:50 am - amazingly we got out the door all dressed and fed that early.  Vanessa got stats done first, weight (19 lbs 5 oz), height (29 1/2"), and head circumference was 18" or something like that.  She squirmed and fussed on the scale, making the nurse work quick.  I question the accuracy of their measurements sometimes, they seem to rush through it.  Her weight and height are in the 25-5 0% percentile, and her head is in the 100% percentile.  Well...yeah...I knew her head was large!  She was actually quite fussy during the visit, not wanting to cooperate and be held still while the doctor examined her ears, nose, eyes, body, tummy, etc.  But once that part was over, the doctor left, and the nurses came back in with the tray of vaccines.  She got a quick dose of liquid tylenol, 2 shots in the left leg, 1 shot in the right.  She screamed, of course...and took awhile to calm down once I picked her up.  She also got her finger poked - they checked her blood for iron levels and tested for lead poisoning (school requirement).  Vanessa freaked again when she got the finger poke, which wasn't the worst part.  She had to be held still enough for the lab lady to squeeze out enough blood to fill a teeny tiny vial.  Calvin stared in amazement at the blood dripping out of her finger.  Once we were done, Calvin took a potty break, and we made a quick trip down to the van and left for home.  Vanessa did calm down but didnt' take a nap til later in the day after lunch.

The nurse called me back later yesterday and told me Vanessa's iron level was 10.8, and they would like to see the minimum number to be 11.  So they say she's very slightly anemic, so we'll put her on an iron supplement for the next 3 months and re-check at 15 months.

Grandpa Loren's memorial service in Albia (and Vanessa's first birthday)

Last weekend was the memorial service for my Grandpa Loren in Albia, IA.  The service was set for Friday at 4 pm.  Our family drove down to Albia on Thursday evening with the goal of making it in time for dinner, so Dave brought along his computer and headset, and worked in the car on our drive down.  I scrambled around all morning getting everyone's things packed up and loaded in the van.  We knew it was approx 2 1/2 hrs there so we left with plenty of time to get there before 6.  At 3 pm we pulled out of our driveway, and we drove about 20 minutes, and I called my grandma to tell her where we were on the road to give her an idea when to expect us.  It was during that phone call that my brain reminded me I had forgotten to put my flute in the van.  DOH!  So we turned around to go get it.  I grabbed my flute and also a portable high chair and tray for Vanessa.  It set us back about a half hour but we managed to make up lost time on the road.  We pulled into a parking space by grandma's apartment at 6:10 pm - not too bad!  We had to skip stopping at our favorite place on the road, Smokey Row Coffee shop in Oskaloosa, but oh well. 

My Grandma Rowena had a delicious dinner prepared - short beef ribs, baked potatoes, cooked carrots, and a delicious fudgy chocolate cake which was eaten in honor of Vanessa's first birthday celebration and my mom and dad's 32nd wedding anniversary, which happen to fall on the same day, June 2nd.
We ate very soon after we arrived.  The kids were excited to get out of the car and were pretty hungry too.  When the carrots went around the table, I scooped up some and put them on Calvin's plate.  He took one look at them and said "Mom, is there grass on the carrots?" I just laughed.  It was dill seasoning. 
After dinner the happy birthday song was sang in Vanessa's honor.  My mom held her and "helped" her blow out the 1 candle on the cake.  I served her up a piece and she ate it steadily and quickly, not making much of a mess.  I am sure she thoroughly enjoyed it!  She is a chocolate fan already just like her mom, grandma, and great grandma!

More candles were added to the cake and we celebrated my mom and dad's 32nd wedding anniversary. 

That night we didn't go anywhere, we stayed in Mama Row's apartment.  Violet and Calvin kept asking to watch movies, there really wasn't much to do there.  We tried occupying them with things.  We ended up throwing a yellow ball around in the living room for awhile, and before I knew it, it was 10 pm and we had to leave to go check into the hotel.  Everybody was tired.  When we drove across town to the Indian Hills Inn, we got checked into our room and by the level of excitement, you'd have thought it was 8 am.  They jumped back and forth from bed to bed, giggling and laughing.  I sure hope nobody was directly underneath our hotel room.  It seemed like a quiet place.  We got them all settled down and in bed by 11:30.  I do not know what took soooo long but they just took forever to settle down.  Vanessa was the first one asleep - she was in a crib in the corner, with a blanket over the top so it was darker.

Friday morning we all got up somewhere around 8:00 - don't really remember the time.  Calvin was the first one up, as always.  He came walking around to my side of the bed and wanted said "I wanna nuggle wit you."  So I couldn't resist that! 

We got dressed quickly and went over to Mama Row's place for breakfast.  She had prepared creamed hard boiled eggs over toast with fruit.  We designated Friday morning as our swimming morning, so after eating a yummy breakfast, we headed to the hotel and got our suits on.  Vanessa went down for a nap as soon as we left the hotel room to go to the pool so that was good timing.  Violet wanted to be brave and learn to swim herself, so I worked with her for a couple hours.  Calvin was satisfied enough to walk around the pool with his life jacket on the whole time, scooping up water and dumping it elsewhere.  He threw balls and we threw them back.  Violet actually did great in the water.  I held her for awhile but she caught on to how to get herself moving on her own in the water quickly.  The pool was small but she figured out how to push off the wall, and doggy paddle swim towards me about 8 feet away.  She was SOO excited!

After swimming time came to an end, we all showered up and got ready for the memorial service that afternoon at 4 pm.  We ate some barley vegetable soup with cornbread at Mama Row's house for lunch, and stayed there until we left for the church.  The family gathered in a small room next to the church's sanctuary while everybody else took seats and waited.  I tried to get Vanessa to take a nap in the crib in the church's nursery, but she wasn't having it.  She kept standing up and screaming.  I was afraid she was going to climb out (the mattress wasn't lowered all the way) so I couldn't just leave her like I normally would.  She stayed in a stroller for part of the service and my mom took her out during a good chunk of it (thanks mom!!).  After my dad, Aunt Ruth, and Uncle David shared about their dad, I got a chance to get up and speak and share some of my favorite memories with my Grandpa Loren.  My grandma Row told me she hoped this would be a time of joy and celebration, nothing too sad, so I tried to keep it memorable and fun. 
At the end of the service, since Grandpa Loren was a war veteran, Violet was asked to sing the Star Spangled Banner accompanied by me on the flute.  Dave went up with Violet and sang with her, but he sang quietly and she sang loudly.  Her start was a little rough but she gained confidence and sang well through the rest of the song.  A trumpet player played the TAPS at the end.

Calvin and Violet sat well during the service.  Calvin leaned over and laid down on the bench at one point, and totally fell asleep on his back.  He was OUT...which we were glad for, it was the only nap he took that day.  He slept through the point the service was over, so we left him laying on the bench until we had to leave for the burial.

There was a short burial at the cemetary that the ashes of his body were buried into.  Two songs were sung by everybody.  We left the van running and Calvin and Vanessa fell asleep.  Violet walked with us to the burial site.  It was super hot, close to 90 degrees, Violet complained about being sweaty. 

A meal was served in the church's fellowship area after the burial.  Burgers, coleslaw, baked beans, and ice cream and brownies.  All of Grandpa Loren's favorites, I think!  We decided to go back to the hotel after that and take the kids swimming again.  Jay and Molly talked to us in the pool, my dad went swimming with us.  Violet swam again, but wanted to leave her life jacket on and have freedom.  She enjoyed the hot tub too!  I put Vanessa in the pool that night too, she seemed to enjoy splashing around.

After the kids went to bed, we decided to go down to the hotel bar and hang out with Jay and Molly.  We ordered a pizza and a few drinks, and enjoyed some time just chatting.  When we were leaving and tried to pay, the bartender told us it was taken care of, and "that table" over there had paid for it.  Philip "Flip", Walt and Jolene were there too, and Flip had footed the bill.  How kind of him!  We chatted for a short time but went to bed...it was after midnight and we were all tired.

Saturday morning Mama Rowena's good friend Carol Sovern's house - she hosted our family for brunch.  She served pecan cinnamon buns, fruit, and egg casserole.  Coffee and orange juice were refilled all morning.  The kids didn't have much to do and wandered around the yard and complained about how hot it was.  It was nice to see all the family.  The rest of the day was spent at Mama Row's place.  I had to lay Vanessa down for a nap, but had nowhere to put her, so I laid out some blankets on the floor and laid down with her in a dark room.  I knew she was exhausted but was at the "overtired" point.  I held her down with my hands on her back and she cried herself to sleep for about 15 minutes, trying to roll over and crawl away.  She eventually gave it up...and konked out completely and slept hard for 2 hours.  I got tired holding her down, and when she fell asleep, I laid my head down next to her blanket and fell asleep too.  I didn't realize how much time had passed, but when I woke up, 2 hours had gone by.  Vanessa was still sleeping so I crept out of the room to join the rest of the family and waited to hear her crying.  Violet ended up going in to get her after awhile, and brought Vanessa to me. 

My Aunt Ruth prepared a delicious seafood pasta dish with salad for dinner.  She went crazy in the kitchen, getting almost everything dirty!  The meal was yummy and satisfying.  Everybody enjoyed it.  We decided to leave that night, so we worked on packing up all our stuff and saying our goodbyes.  Grandma Row stopped to say a few things before everybody left - read some letters that Loren had written to her a long time ago, and some poetry. 

Our drive home was silent.  They changed into their pajamas before leaving.  I think the kids fell asleep and we got home in good time.

Vanessa's first birthday

I wanted to make a separate post about Vanessa's birthday, but it is wrapped up in the weekend along with Grandpa Loren's memorial service right above this one...so read up. :)