Eli and Vanessa enjoying spring weather

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

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

Just a few "happy" photos.

Painting primer in basement

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

Trip to Chicago for Easter 2015 (with Butler family)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Calvin lost a front tooth on Easter

4 kids in undies, cute pic!

2015 Awana Grand Prix cars

2015 Awana Grand Prix cars

I forgot to write about these after I finished uploading them to my blog from my phone.

Violet made the boat, Calvin made the...um...I'm not sure what it is.  He calls it a train.  

Initially Dave and Calvin planned to make a cardboard box out of his car and put an Amazon Prime label on it.  Dave had cut out some circles under the car to take some weight out of it so he could put more weights on the back of the car.  Calvin was reading up on grand prix cars and saw an image that showed how a wedge shape was more aerodynamic than a block shape, and he changed his mind and wanted a wedge shape.  Well...this changed the cardboard box design, so Dave went ahead and cut off a corner, and this exposed a little hole in the shape of a smiley face from the cuts that Dave did underneath the car.  They decided to paint eyes on it and make windows.  Calvin ended up winning 1st place for design in the competition for Sparks. 

Both their cars were fast but not the fastest.  Close races!  

Vanessa is forming words with letters

She's trying! This is "butterfly" and "castle".

Eli potty training update

I can't believe three weeks has almost passed since the first day I decided to potty train Eli.  It was kinda on a whim that day that I decided it was just time.  I'd purchased a box of pullups and the purchase was kind of the time my mind had committed to the idea.  Anyway, he caught on like a champ.  It must have been a "sweet spot" for Eli.  Well, and M&Ms always help. haha!  He uses the toilet and points up at the jar of M&Ms on the shelf above the toilet and says "prizes!"

I just kept taking him regularly and when he started telling me he had to go is when I realized he was catching on.  I'm stopping taking him so frequently and learning how long he can hold things.  I used to put him in pull ups for car rides and naps but since we started he's woken up from his naps with a dry pull up and can handle car rides for at least an hour.

He's a total ham on the toilet.  He sits down to do everything and talks about his "stinkies" and how they're "little babies" and things... (comparing sizes).  Yeah.  And he likes flushing.

He uses the potty all places.  Restaurants, church, other people's houses, and I'm so glad to be on the other side of this.  Who enjoys potty training, really...  I think I'd rather eat a plate of mushrooms.

He still wears a diaper to bed but I call them his nighttime undies.  And speaking of undies, I really need to get him his own underwear.  He's wearing trainers and they're a little thick.  Time to switch!  I've even listed ALL my cloth diapers and accessories on an online site for that thing and I've sold half of what I've listed already.

I can only guess his quality of life is better!  I'm LOVING it!  His little personality is blooming right now and he's such a little happy thing that enamors all our family members.  That is, when he's not destroying everything in his reach.  :P

** Ohhh and there's one more thing I think I need to record about this little cutie.  He likes to be a puppy.  Pretend he is one, that is.  And his only requirement to pretend he's a puppy is to take off his clothes.  He says, with much angst, "I wanna be a puppy!" trying to lift his shift off.  And then he says "mew! mew!"

More stuff:

-He calls zippers "yups".  hahaaa!!
-likes to put ants in the toilet and poop on them
-calls TP "paper toilet"
-pretends to hold a perplexus in his hands and tip it side to side saying, "I have a perplexus!"
-picks up the kid's perplexus puzzles and can roll the ball around for a few steps

Day 1 potty training Eli

Its a funny thing..."potty training".  Eli has been learning about the toilet for months now, and I could technically say that he's "potty trained."  But the term "potty trained" in this sense means...he knows HOW to use the toilet and has successfully done both tasks many times.  But as far as mommy goes, I haven't given the title to Eli as "potty trained" yet because well, he has worn diapers all the time and I've continued to change those diapers.  Have you heard the phrase "potty trained" enough in this first paragraph?  Probably.

Well, I just decided he needs to use the toilet.  He's a smart little cookie and communicating really effectively lately.  My vision is totally perfect now and I feel like life is possible.  So, he's wearing pull ups and I'm taking him to the toilet to do his business now.  I'm not going to wait for him to tell me he has to go, I'm making this a regular habit as part of his day now.  He's a pretty cheerful guy about it.  And so far he's only had one accident but has used the toilet all day.  I'm really thinking/hoping this will be an easy transition for him.  He called his pull ups something to do with swimming.  He saw them and was like "I want to go swimming!!" because he has worn a "pull-on" style swim diaper every time he's gone swimming recently.

So, it has begun.  I guess its helps me to blog about it so that it seems more official.  Facebook doesn't need to know but I'll blog about my little 2 yr old's potty habits. :)

Violet's 9th Birthday

Trying hard to remember details from this day!  I really need to blog the day of or the day after such events.  We're a month past Violet's birthday already and I'm just now sitting down to write about it!  I asked Violet to help me remember how we celebrated and the details were foggy to her.

I do remember making a run to Walmart the day before her birthday to get cupcakes for her school celebration the next day.  I got her a couple birthday gifts as well.  Really planned ahead well, huh!?

She had chosen her birthday food for the day.  She wanted egg/sausage/cheese sandwiches for breakfast (not an easy feat on the school morning), mac n cheese for lunch, and taco soup with chips for supper.  I did wake up early on the morning of her birthday to cook her breakfast.  I also made some mac n cheese at the same time and filled up their hot thermos containers with that for lunch.  Calvin got some too.

Vanessa helped me decorate the house while Violet was at school.  We made a trip to the dollar store and got balloons and streamers.  We went with yellow, pink, and white for decor colors.  Violet and Calvin put more balloons up when we got home from school.  Taco soup is easy to throw together - it is almost all cans in a pot and it gets heated up with yummy toppings.


Violet remembered these details:

- brought massive cupcake made of a bunch of cupcakes and (said she got really messy at school).
- woke up early and mom made sausage/egg/cheese sandwiches
- made shells and cheese for lunch at school
- got puppy with huge eyes
- bubble gum squares - grape
- Elsa/Anna Frozen gummies
- Perplexis Epic
- taco soup, rainbow cake

She told me at the end of the day, "Thanks for making my birthday really special!" So she was touched.  That is sweet, and the most memorable moment for me.

We celebrated her birthday again with the Hardinger family at a cabin in Charles City - we hung streamers, Grandma Jo made a yummy funfetti cake, and I brought ham and mac n cheese along with mom's carrots for supper.

Vanessa says:

While eating breakfast:

Vanessa: "I just feel like I'm at Grandma Jo's house."
Me: "Why?
Vanessa: "Because you just look so much like Grandma Jo".

My experience with lasik eye surgery

I feel as though I can put a check in a box next to something on an epic list of things that you've always been curious about but never really wanted to do.  But I can consider this one done.  I'm actually writing this post the day before my third eye surgery.  Did I just type that?  I had two done on my right eye, and my left eye will be done tomorrow.

I'd been interested (but just too scared) to consider lasik eye surgery.  A situation came up late November when I received an email from our health savings account holder reminding us that the year was almost over and we still had a decent pile of money sitting in our account that was going to disappear if it didn't get used.  I remember forwarding this message to Dave and he responded with "maybe lasik?" I kinda shook off the idea quickly and thought, well, maybe we can spend the money down by going to a few chiropractor appointments, or maybe .... the ideas were rolling.

Dave mentioned lasik again, and I decided to at least make a phone call about it.  I talked to my friend Annette who works for a big eye care center in the area.  I knew some people who'd had lasik done.  I looked information up online.  I learned that Mauer Eye Center had their own laser machine, and most other eye surgeries done were on a borrowed laser machine at the hospital.  I called Mauer and they explained that contacts couldn't be worn prior to the surgery for about 4 weeks.  I later learned that I was talking to a "front desk gal" who wasn't the one who should have been giving out information.  I spoke to the lasik coordinator, Angie, from Mauer, and we talked about more details.  She asked about my situation and I told her about the $ we were trying to spend before the year's end.  She informed me that I only had to have my contacts out for 3 weeks prior to the surgery.  I could do that.  I went in for a consultation.  My friend Charity watched my younger two kids for this appointment.  My corneas were measured, and turned up the result that they had more than enough thickness to handle lasik.  I inquired with Mauer about the cost of surgery.  They were running a lasik promotion for $500 off per eye.  Our VSP insurance gave a discount of 5%.  Brought the total to about $1400 per eye.  Considering the total in our savings account, this covered almost of it, so we decided to go ahead and schedule the surgery for one eye in year 2014, and the other eye in 2015.  This breaks up the cost of paying for the eyes and it ends up almost all coming out of the pre-tax medical spending account (its funded by Dave's paychecks, of course).

SO.

Here I go!

My right eye was scheduled for Dec 29.  Honestly, the biggest annoyance to me was having to wear my glasses for three weeks.  It felt like a year.  Anyone remotely close to me knows I can't stand wearing glasses frames on my face.  I felt like they slowed me down.  I didn't like how my strong corrected lenses made everything seem curvy when I moved my head slightly.  I didn't like the lack of peripheral vision.  I felt like I couldn't go exercise anywhere.  Kinda felt stuck.  I've been used to wearing contacts since I was a young teenager.

Ok, that paragraph is over.  You've probably already heard it anyway.

I barely had time to think about my upcoming eye surgery.  Christmas was incredibly fun and busy hosting Dave's family (that blog post is in the works) and the day my surgery was scheduled was for Monday evening, the day after everyone left.  I could feel myself taking deep breaths throughout the day just thinking about the whole thing.  I wasn't EXCITED to go through something like eye surgery.  But I was excited at the thought that my vision could be corrected and I could toss the glasses and 27 contact cases I've collected over the years.

I got my eye drops from the pharmacy.  My mom kindly came down to transport me to the eye center.  I checked in, took my valium pill, and was moved to a waiting room.  Someone called me back and moved my mom to a different room.  I entered the room and found it to be less "fancy" than I was imagining.  A big tubular machine about 5 feet fall, smallish room, a chair for me, and supplies in racks.  I go to wear a hair net and booties.  The nurse let me hold a stuffed animal and put a warm blanket over my body.  She put in a ton of numbing drops, some more eye drops, covered my left eye.  They let me listen to the sounds of what would happen before it happened so I wouldn't be surprised.  One tool used to create the flap in my eye (gotta just admit, it sounded like a dental drill, and another was a loud repeated clicking of the laser.  He said my eye would be propped open for a few minutes.  They began.  I agreed to behave.  I focused on staring at that red blinking light the whole time.  My eye was totally numb, and the doc just did his thing.  I could observe what was going on with my eye but nothing really specific.  He said the procedure was perfect.  He said, "have you done this before? You're like a pro."

I just kinda pretended that my eye was not part of my body and that I was observing something odd.

I was done just like that.  Got to sit up.  Was warned not to blink my eye hard or rub it.  Eye goggle protection on.  I was moved to another room and met my mom with a smile on my face.  Done! I said.  They gave me instructions on eye drops for the next 7 days.  Mom drove me home and I got to go right upstairs and go to sleep in bed (ahhhh YESSS) for the next four hours.

Recovery felt just fine.  There was never any pain.  Slight blurriness became clear.  I went to my post OP check the next day and doc checked my eye and vision and said it was 20/20.  He said You're a show-off!  He did notice what he called a little "fold" or "wrinkle" on the eye flap that was in the healing process.  He said he'd rather try a non-invasive way of fixing it by using a little "iron"...looked like a little 4 inch metal stick to me.  He numbed my eye and rubbed it somehow for about 5 seconds.  A few days later I went back for another check, and he said "hmm...its looking worse".  Maybe I slept on it funny and caused a wrinkle?  A nurse at the office asked if I needed more rewetting drops, I told her no, I had tons left.  She asked how much I'd been using and I said maybe three  or four drops a day.  She told me oh no..keep it soaking wet.  Go through as much as possible and soak that eye!
My vision had gone down a little, and he said he'd rather do a "flap lift" to fix it.  I'm thinking oh no! another eye surgery!  Yep.  That's what I had to do.  He wanted it done asap (like that day), so I scrambled to find a situation that worked.  I picked up kids from school, dropped them off at home, let them watch TV while Dave finished work.  Barb A. drove me to doctor.  I then had to under go this "flap lift" and what I don't like saying is "flap lift and stretch"...yeah.  The stretch word just makes me cringe.  I don't really even like talking about it.  I was prepped for surgery just the same as before.  I really wish I'd had the thought to ask for valium during this surgery but I didn't get that privilege.  Doc used some instruments to open the flap and rub/stretch/whatever it back to its normal-ness.  I got queasy during this one.  My hands didn't know what to do...I didn't have a stuffed animal to hold onto. :P  It took much longer.  He was tedious and precise in his skill and didn't settle for less than best.  I kept seeing little things come at my eye and move around.  It was kinda freaky.
He finally said it looked perfect and closed up my eye.  WHEWWWWW.  I blinked my eye quickly and softly.  It started watering like crazy.   I came home and was so careful not to bump my eye.  Rachel came over that evening and gave me some TLC ...I needed more rest so I laid on the couch.  At this point I was a little scared because my right eye vision was really, really blurry.  My eye hurt.  I was "weirded out" by the whole long and uncomfortable eye surgery experience.  Doc did say I needed to rest and wait.

He was right.  A week later I'm back to better than 20/20 and I can see tiny branches in trees a mile away with my right eye.  Incredible.

I'm sitting here a day before my second eye surgery and I'm anticipating this one to be a breeze like the first one.  I will be so careful not to cause any flap issues.

This previous week I've had to leave out my contact in my left eye in preparation for the lasik tomorrow.  It has been a really annoying experience, to be honest.  My crisp clear vision is fighting with my awful fuzzy vision in my left eye.  I can see "clurry".  My word of the week.  I've worn my goggles all week with something covering my left eye so the blur is just blocked out.  This makes for a one-eyed mom...no so ideal.  But I've dealt with it (yes, I've complained...and also kept my mouth shut a lot)..and managed to get through.  Super proud of my right eye right now, though.

I'll finish this up after my left eye heals over the next few days.

*******************************************************************************
Update!  1/15/2015

I'm all DONE!  I can SEEE...wahooooo!!!  My left eye was done today, and it went perfect.  Doc said it went well and my vision is clear.  He put a clear contact over my eye to keep the flap in place which will come out tomorrow.  I'm going to prevent a flap issue as best as I can!

The procedure today went very much like my first eye.  My friend Kim was able to watch my younger two while Dave brought me to my appointment at 2:00.  My mom drove to town and picked up our van in time to get the older two from school at 3:15.  My mom picked up the younger two kids from Kim's place after getting the older ones.  I was home and asleep and dreaming when everyone got home.  I had the craziest dream while I was sleeping.  Maybe it was the valium. I dreampt lots of things but what I remember the most is being in a fancy hotel reception room up many floors and looking out a big window at a big "drone" war happening in the air very close to the window I was looking at.  Hmm.

Today was the day Eli decided he didn't like his pockets

He was so irritated all morning.  He wasn't happy when eating, he wasn't happy when playing, and I really know something is wrong when he isn't happy watching Thomas the Train.  His hands were shoved in his pants pockets a lot and he just really didn't like those pockets.  I don't remember all the events of the morning, but as soon as the pants with the pockets came off and he got different pants on, he was much better.
At dinner, we discussed this.  Eli says "I don't like pockets."  and of course this makes everyone laugh. :D

3 oldest kids' time in Mason City - entry from "Grandma Jo"

This is copied and pasted from an email that my mom sent me a few days ago.  She recapped the two days that Violet, Calvin and Vanessa got to spend in Mason City the last couple days of their Christmas Break.  January 2-3, 2015.


"Hi there this will be a “gramma and grampa entry”.

On Friday it was a bit earlier of an arrival than planned so we got Arby’s sandwiches and bottled water for a quick lunch before going to the gym.

Vanessa ate her entire sandwich, as did the others.

Gym time wasn’t totally trampoline for Calvin this time, and Vanessa avoided it the trampolines altogether, and Violet said bouncing hurt her back.  Never the less taught both to do a tummy drop from the “table” hands and knees position and return to feet...put a soft mat on the trampoline to cushion the impact.

So robe swinging and rolling and chasing hoops was explored as well making an obstacle course with ramps and mats and I added two skills in it...a forward roll from a semi handstand and a backward roll down a wedge.  Typical of most boys, Calvin doesn’t like to tuck his head either, and if he does, he keeps his mouth wide open so it won’t curl in too far...and wants to do everything too fast without listening to instructions.  This is par for the ‘boy coarse’ and I certainly got him “fixed up” without forcing the issue.  Violet is totally coachable and listens to details and doesn’t mind “do-overs”.  That’s why most gymnastics coaches like to coach girls...but with patience boys “get there”.  (There’s a “Rickie” in Doug’s gym that didn’t focus on details until he was 17...now he is great on trampoline, but before he just wanted to flip his own way and didn’t spend time on corrections...by that age most girls are fading out.)   Vanessa took to the beams and played with the “donut” and soft soccer balls and ropes creatively...lots of “make believe” scenarios.

When the better team kids came at 4:30 we watched them warm up to music and soon left to meet Jay and Jon at Perkins.

We got served much later than anticipated, so kids were hungry and ate fruit cups while waiting, then a choice of corn or broccoli then Mac n Cheese...oh...and while waiting at the gym they had cherry juice and an oatmeal bar.

Got home (finally!) and Jay came over for a good while too.  V&C built with foam blocks, and Vanessa played with the old cabbage patch doll and her many changes of clothes...the ballerina outfit being the favorite with the tutu, tiara, and slippers.  Grandpa Jon played with Vanessa and her doll by adding two bears to the story.  Vanessa dictated the episodes...non-stop creativity.  V&C and Jay played mouse trap.  To Calvin’s delight he caught Jay and Violet’s mouse so that was the end of that!  Time to get ready for bed.  They got right to it.

Teeth, jams, and a story by grandpa Jon about the “Train that Could” and gospel story about “Sinerella” and her need for salvation.   (Vanessa remembered the classic train story when she was trudging up a steep hill today at Lime Creek...said “I can do it” and when at the top said “I did it”! )

So kids were in bed by 9:30.  And all up at 6 AM.  Calvin got out of bed, woke up V&V, and all went downstairs to play.   Whatever.  Jon’s an early bird and I didn’t really mind.

OK so they did this and that and settled on coloring (and sharpening all of the pencils) while I eventually got the waffles I made the other day in the oven to crisp up.  Lots of peanut butter and syrup.

I wanted Calvin to use his knife to cut it up...rather than eating it like a hungry bear...biting off pieces so big it falls and drips on the table, his lap, and the chair cushion.  Not a happy Grandma.  Anyway, they ate well and then back to playing while I washed dishes.  Being Saturday Jon was home and started them on computer games.  I’m like “NOT NOW”!  Oh well.

Got the girls’ hair braided and ponied and in a half hour they changed into hiking clothes...all the layers, hats, boots and gloves and smooshed into the back seats.  

(Cracks us up when Vanessa came down the stairs we was wearing silver slippers and a sparkly purple dress!   Jon’s like...”She’s dressed!!!”)

Now the temp was “warm” at 30 degrees and no wind and not warm enough to turn dirt and wet trails into mud...so it was perfect.  A layer of soft snow on everything...but leaves and rocks hiding under white snow...so I didn’t want them running through the “woods” because under the snow are holes in the ground, sticks and rocks to trip and fall on and still the burs in the weeds that stick to your knits...but Calvin was a rabbit taking off on sight of anything interesting and certainly tree climbing and rock wall climbing in clunky boots and gloves and slippery snow isn’t a smart idea...so they were like herding cats and I got rather irritated with their irresponsible exuberance.  Had to take a “time out” and review the goal.  Their displeasure with the limitations were expressed as such:  I’m thirsty.  I’m tired.  How far do we have to go.   My legs hurt...etc. etc...and Vanessa’s glove didn’t stay on for anything.  

Well we got it going again after some water and encouragement and made it to the bridge and checked out the interesting ice formations. 

Going back went much better!  Got to the Nature Center and checked out the stuffed animals.   A live snake and bees were most interesting.  
Hunger was back.

Had to pack up and head home I knew the burritos would need time to warm up so had carrots, apples, and nuts while waiting.   Believe it or not it was 3 PM by the time we had burritos and OH I forgot they all got in a warm bubble bath (one at a time) before lunch too...after lunch they snuggled under a big blanket and Jon read them Heidi then they split into two computer groups and played George games.    I knew they wanted to play Mouse trap one more time and Jon wanted to shop for mittens for Calvin so we played another round but the cage didn’t drop so no one was caught.   In between things I got their clothes and snow pants washed and packed their things and loaded the car so we could leave close to 5 PM.

Went SO fast!

I was impressed with Calvin’s progress in reading...and he spells out loud...just last March he was sounding out basic sentences - but now does so well! 

Violet is using her match skills (adding and sub-tracking) and Vanessa is a delight all around and such a trooper.  She might resist instructions for greater attention...so it’s a deal.

No wet beds and otherwise very well behaved I just had to keep reminding Calvin to not hang on the edge of the table (rather keeping weight in the chair!) and not put hands on all of the glass and displays at the house and Nature Center...needs to learn when it’s “hands off” and just look.  Violet read the signs and followed the instructions.

They knocked out about 5 minutes out of Mason City and the full moon was bright."

Christmas with ALL LaMarche siblings 2014

I have been wanting to blog about this for awhile, but haven't really known how to tackle writing about it.  My style is usually to take notes every day and do an accurate recap of events.  That is not possible this time.  I was too busy to keep track of everything being "the host" of the event.  My first thought was to look at my meal organization schedule, but that got all jumbled up and food planned got mixed around.  AND my computer has issues so my main computer I normally use isn't available for me to load photos onto.  I'm using our kitchen laptop right now but don't have photos to go with my blog.  I'm all out of sorts. :) But I figure I'd better at least write something not too far away from the event so I remember details.  I've had lasik in my right eye since the event and we hosted some friends for New Year's.  So much going on!  I must thrive on being busy because I don't mind it, but it makes my memories all foggy.  Much to my disappointment, I had to wear my glasses the entire time (having lasik requires no contacts for 3 weeks).  I don't do so well with glasses.  My correction makes glasses seem like everything is moving when it isn't and made me have bad peripheral vision.  I knocked over a lot of stuff.  

I'll say first as a general thought that the gathering OVERALL was amazing.  Dave was absolutely thrilled to have all his siblings and mother all together.  He and I enjoy hosting so we make a good pair.  The LaMarche family members are thoughtful, kind, funny, easy-going, flexible, and grateful. 

The first thing to note is that Sean and April had an opportunity with Sean's work and timing to come out a day earlier than Josh, Lisa and Martha.  Sean's normal work hours are 5pm-3am.  Apparently he's used to being awake all night, so he chose to pack up his family of 9 and drive through the night Monday night/Tues morning.  They left PA at 5 pm or something like that and arrived at our house Tuesday morning at 8:30 am!  I had some baked french toast, scrambled eggs/cheese and hashbrowns ready for the group when they arrived Tuesday morning.  After the meal we all hung out and helped Sean and family unpack and get settled.  April is a real worker in the kitchen and was always willing to help out with meal prep or clean up.  I had pre-cooked some pulled pork the day before so we made some mac n cheese and ate pulled pork on buns for lunch along with some veggies.   Baked teriyaki chicken, rice and broccoli for supper.  The Sean LaMarche family ages of kids are 16, 15, 13, 10, 9, 7, and 6.  Those are approximate ages.  Getting snapshots of families years apart makes kids growth really obvious!  All the kids are well behaved and cousins connected quickly.  Bowen and Calvin immediately started on legos.  Lynnea and Violet connected and ended up sleeping in Violet's stop bunk bed each night.  Adalynn and Vanessa hung out and the older kids mostly hung out with adults and enjoyed card games at night.  They taught us (and gifted us) a game called 6 Nimmt.  Nimmt means "takes" in German - all the instructions are in German so you have to learn by watching.  Easy to pick up, fun to play.  

Tuesday sometime Dave, Sean and some kids went out to buy a Christmas tree. 

Next morning (Wed - Christmas Eve) was sausage gravy over biscuits.  Sean and kids set up the tree and decorated it with our ornaments.  Violet and some other kids wrapped garland and red bows on the stairs.  We expected everyone else's arrival that day so we kept up with their travels.  Martha arrived in the afternoon, Josh and Carrie arrived but first checked into their hotel, Lisa and Sten arrived...and we were all together!  I was preparing dinner toppings, etc...the plan was chipotle chicken rice bowls, chips, salsa and queso.  Whipping up that meal with tons of kitchen helpers was a breeze!  Rice, topped with chopped grilled chipotle chicken, black bean/corn salsa, lettuce, mexican cheese, sour cream, jalapenos, cilantro, tomatoes, etc...it was fantastic!

We borrowed a 6 foot table and some chairs that we set up during meal time only - otherwise it was in the way.  We used the countertop to the right of the sink for "buffet style" serving.  

One of my favorite parts of the week was right before mealtime we'd all gather in a huge 26 person circle and sing a song before praying.  Usually it was the doxology.  We have some amazing singing voices in the group - every note gave me chills.  And what a blessing to all have commonality in Christ.  There was no "awkward religious oddball" - we all claim Christ!  

The rest of the night was games/etc.  We prepared the cinnamon rolls and cut up a big bowl of fresh fruit for the next morning.  

Thursday morning (Christmas day!) we baked up the four egg casseroles (one cheese, one sausage, one bacon, and one 2 meat), two pans cinnamon rolls, and a huge bowl of fresh cut up fruit.  We had every color of fruit!  Strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwis, grapes, bananas.  Breakfast was delicious!  

After cleaning up breakfast Lisa kicked-off the gift exchanges for kids/adults.  The kids exchanged gifts (each brought one and it was supposed to be a white elephant game but we decided the kids couldn't handle "stealing" from each other).  All ended up with something they liked!  Kids off to play.  Adults did gift exchange - Emma, Kristina, Emily and Alyssa joined in adult gift exchange.  Rule was to bring a gift worth about $10 for the white elephant game.  All have numbers, then go in order choosing gifts.  Next number in line has option of stealing gift or opening a new one.  Fun!  Gifts I remember being handed out were Starbucks gift cards, york peppermint patties, cashew brittle, whiskey, mugs, sock monkeys, crackers, peanut butter cups, pens, scarves, dark chocolate tim tams,  Sten was given verbal award for the gift with the most thought put into it.

All the kids packed up to go swimming at the hotel where Josh and Carrie were staying, which was a nice break for those who stayed home.  Rachel brought over some paper and showed the older girls how to make these pretty paper snowflakes.  Emma put three together to make a 3D snowflake - so pretty!

Some people had lunch meat/chips that Carrie brought for lunches prior to going swimming.  

I stayed home with some others (April, Martha, Rachel, older girls) and prepared Christmas dinner.  Ham, green beans/bacon, and mac n cheese.  Martha made up the pans of mac n cheese, Lisa put a glaze on the ham, and others helped with green bean meal.  Lisa had brought up a lot of buns so we put those out also.  Sean/Josh carved ham.  Everyone pitched in with meal prep/serving, it was so nice.  I almost felt like it was easier having people here than when I'm on my own at home!  Eclair cake.

Conversations seemed to flow naturally, every room in the house was filled with people.  Lots of card games were played.  Josh learned strategy for the game BS.  Sten organizes 6 Nimmt cards better than anyone else, and I discovered Instagram.  Jokes about hashtags and "ain't nobody got time for that!" were frequent. 

Friday the plan was to make pancakes/sausage but we had so many leftovers from previous breakfasts that we reheated a lot of food.  Egg bakes, sausage gravy and biscuits, cinnamon rolls, etc.  

The day was spent at Bethany Bible Chapel.  We had reserved the coffee nook, gym, and kitchen for our family's use most of the day.  We packed along lunch and supper food and ate both meals there.  Set up volleyball, 9 square, and enjoyed playing more games, coffee, and food.  I had a hard time playing volleyball with my glasses.  But it was still fun.  Martha had a tough experience that day when her knee swelled up to the point that she couldn't walk.  I made a run to a pharmacy for her (her boss called in some paid medication for her) so she could function.  We had lunch meat/chips again for lunch, and heated up Lisa's black bean chili with toppings/chips/salsa for dinner.  A big plate of chocolate chip cookies that April baked a day or so earlier got consumed.  Calvin may have eaten half the plate of cookies.

Saturday morning was supposed to be something but we ended up putting up a continental breakfast bar.  Cold cereal, english muffins and bagels to toast, and some leftovers.  People felt like eating up leftovers was smarter than cooking new, and we had plenty, so we went with it.  We knew everybody was planning to leave Saturday except for Sean/April and family so we scheduled in our visit to Waterloo Trampoline and Tumbling Center right after breakfast.  We jumped and jumped for two hours.  Snapped a lot of family photos, including one big group photo that Rachel was so kind to take for us.  Everyone had fun at the gym!  Many thanks to Lee and Linda Whitmore for allowing us to have such a fun time there.  Some planned to leave from the gym but all decided to come back to our house for lunch.  There was plenty of food so it worked ok. 

Lunch was reheated ham and pulled pork to put on buns, mac and cheese, veggies, green beans, and a cheese/cracker plate.  

Ping pong games were played, but I don't remember when.  Emily, Alyssa, and Corban are all good players! 

Josh/Carrie and family left.  Sten/Lisa left, Martha left.  Martha left but then turned around to come back since she had forgotten to get something, plus, she'd asked for a "to go" bag of leftover food.  We packed her up a lot of goodies and sent her on her way.  

Sean/April and crew - what did we do when everyone left?  I have no clue.  I can't remember that day! haha!  Dave doesn't either.  I bet we cleaned.  And played more games.  

Specific memories of each person involved:

Martha - poor knee inflammation.  Loves to help in kitchen. Enjoyed gift exchange game. Snuggled with oldest girl grand daughters.

Josh - happy. Learned to play Speed and taught nieces/nephews.

Carrie - always willing to help! Brought yummy lunch stuff.  Told Vanessa she'd mail her pink sparkles for stocking.

Austin - wanted to play perler beads but didn't get to. :( Didn't enjoy volleyball coaching.

Renee - played with Violet and Lynnea

Wesley - got out viewmaster toy and broke it, haha

I'll try finish others later...that's all I could finish right now.

Calvin's 7th Birthday

My first little boy is SEVEN!  I gotta brag on his learning this year in school (1st grade).  He started the year taking a reading test and getting through 17 words in a minute.  He has progressively improved with each test, moving up into the 30s, 40s, and 50s.  The last test he brought home he read 77 words per minute!  His teacher, Miss Schoonhoven, said the goal for first graders is to read 40-60 WPM by the end of 1st grade.  He has sky-rocked in his reading ability.  I'm so proud of him!

Ok, back to his birthday.  I feel a little bad that his birthday is 3 days after Christmas.  This year his birthday fell on the day that most of our Christmas company left.  I had made him a big chocolate oreo cake the night before and we all celebrated.  He was surrounded with ALL his LaMarche cousins to sing him happy birthday.  That was a fun moment!  I couldn't really tell if he enjoyed the attention for his birthday or not.  

He got a shark backpack, robo bug kit that holds a pop can, and the Lego movie.  He got to watch the movie that day.

And of course the "7" pancake!!

  

My mundane ramblings

I think I start all my blog posts something like, "wow, its been a long time since I've written anything down..."
Then I feel a slight twinge of guilt because I haven't written down things the kids are saying lately.  Eli makes us laugh about a thousand times a day.  He's so stinking funny.  He is building on his "adoraber" thing by saying, "you're the best.  NO, you're the best.  I wuv you."  and "Try to get me!" and running away.  He wants to be "super" by bringing us one of his baby blankets and wants someone to tie it around his shoulders for a cape.  He runs back and forth, one time saying, "I'm super woman!" copying Vanessa.

Vanessa is improving her speech with her own efforts.  She's making a point to say the letter "R" in words like "green" and "bright" and "decorated" ... she's trying.  She still says "F" for the sound that "th" is supposed to make.  She tried saying a word over and over to me the other day and I DID NOT get it.  She was saying, "Uuuf!" over and over.  She finally explained it differently by saying, "the world where we live!" and it clicked that she was saying "Earth".  Well, the poor girl can't say R and TH so it came out like "Uuuf".  I helped her say "ERR", then pause, then stick tongue between teeth and enunciate the "th" sound.  It came out like "Err...*switch mouth and tongue*....TH"  She can do it!  Its a matter of it becoming natural.  She is working on it and I'm impressed and encouraged.  She has continued to sound like a 2 or 3 yr old pronouncing things like a toddler, but her making improvements with her speaking is encouraging to me.  She'll start kindergarten in 8 months!

Ever since my dad once mentioned trying to stop using the word "should" in our daily language and communication, I've been sensitive about saying it or using it.  It really does bring on guilt.  It ends up making anyone feel like they're not measuring up.  Instead, just do it. :)

So, I'm doing it.  I'm blogging.  With no real point to this post, other than to write "what's going on lately around here".  My life and tasks seem mundane, well, because, sometimes they are.  I'm not going to write down what seem like my biggest accomplishments because, well, let's just face it...nobody cares that I've washed, folded, and managed to get the kid's help to put away 6 loads of laundry.  Two or three days later, repeat.  Or managed to serve 18 meals in one day.  Sleep, repeat, serve 18 meals again.  Wipe down kitchen for the fourteenth time, sweep.  Load dishwasher.  Unload dishwasher.

What to write about.  Feeling rather random tonight.
Tonight's pork tenderloin was delicious.  Vanessa called it chicken.  Violet called it beef.  Whatever! haha!  Served along with rice and green beans (from the garden!) that were picked too big and took extra chewing to get down.

For not too much longer I can say the kid are 2, 4, 6, and 8.  I think that's pretty cool!  Calvin will break the system when he turns 7 in sixteen days.

I spent a lot of time just picking up this house.  There are always tons of papers to organize, kids crafts to admire, say WOW, and put up with magnets on the fridge for as long as they care and take down when they don't notice.

We are in the process of finishing the basement.  There will be a ping pong table (SHHHH! don't tell the kids! they don't know it is in our garage in a box that isn't labeled) to set up in the new play area, re-organized space, super cool colorful carpet, neat lights,, a small kitchenette/bar area, and a movie theater.  The storage space was moved to an interior boxed in room that includes the utilities area.  We've been working nonstop tearing down walls.  There's always cleaning to do down there.  Dave has framed in new walls, built an entire ceiling support for drywall and suspended ceiling, and is re-wiring cut openings for recessed lighting.  Every spare moment Dave has is dedicated to making progress downstairs.

We have a ton of family coming for Christmas!  I've sketched out my meal plan and written down almost the whole master shopping list.  I'm not done yet.  Barb Anderson came over Monday this week and we cranked out FOUR LASAGNAS for the freezer . She's so fun and helpful!  So glad to have that done.   I still have to do the major shopping trip to buy everything, but I'm sort of planned out.  Dave's sister Lisa and her family (husband Sten, daughters Kristina, Emma and Anja), his brother Josh (and wife Carrie, and kids Austin, Renee, and Wesley), his brother Sean (and his wife April and their kids, Emily, Alyssa, Corban, Logan, Bowen, Lynnea, and Adalynn), and his mother Martha.  Rachel will join us too!!  Rachel will kindly host 4 people and 2 will stay in the vacant CF home of Mother Rowena.

Right now I'm waiting for some clothes to finish drying.

OH yeah!  Another NEW THING.  Dave and I discovered we have a big chunk of cash still sitting in our "health savings account" for the year 2014.  This money will be gone are swallowed by the government if it isn't used in this year.  Dave suggested I get lasik eye surgery to correct my vision.

I looked into it.  Long story later (and I've seen the eye doctor at Mauer Eye Center for an approval)...I'm scheduled to have one of my eyes surgically corrected on Dec 29th, and the other eye on January 15th.  Why one eye at a time?  Well...it will cost SIGNIFICANTLY less.  This year's HSA amount will mostly cover one eye.  The other eye would be completely out of pocket.  Unless we did the other eye in 2015.  The next year's HSA will cover the other eye.  I'm so excited!  and nervous! The eye doctor I've chosen to go to is the best rated and has the best technology available in eye surgery.  He has his own laser machine with Wave Front technology right in his office.  All other eye doctors that perform lasik use a laser at the hospital.

I'm just going for it.  I really can't wait to wake up and be able to SEE.

that's my news for now.  I have to hit "post" and go help Dave in the basement.