A Little Time with the Folks

On Sunday we headed up to my parents' house. We hadn't been to their church in a couple years, so we got up early and headed up there. It was nice to see everyone again. Dad brought mom home from the nursing home right after service, so once sunday school was out, a few of the people came over to say hi and give her a hug. Thought that was nice. :-)



Jeff and Dad set about getting some burgers grilled up for us. They were super-yummy!

Uncle Pete and Kendalyn had a nice little bonding moment. Kendalyn and the kids ended up having a ball together. They chased each other through the house and Kendalyn would just laugh and laugh. It was hysterical to watch. So, so cute! This was the first time Pete got to meet Avery. I held her as soon as we got to church and decided to only hold her for a couple minutes, so Pete could hold her - fully expecting to get her right back. Yeah. Pete wouldn't give her back. Held her nearly all of service!! When he finally did give her back to me, she managed to poop on me. He timed that JUST right, didn't he? ;-)

It was fun having everyone together for lunch. You'll see mom has a new pad on her chair, which goes up to the back of her head. Kind of a nice little added support for her. You'll also notice Jeff is holding a cake. That's because it was his birthday!

We didn't have any candles, but he mimed it for us. :-) He just turned 26. Ugh. Could I feel any older?!!

Madie is turning into quite the little babysitter. She really enjoyed holding Avery. Noah likes her too, but much prefers when they are able to run around with him like Kendalyn. That'll happen in no time, I'm sure.

Dad took mom back to the nursing home after a few hours, then headed out with Pete and Jeff to go golfing. He needs that time away to relax and unwind. Apparently they all sucked, but at least the weather was beautiful and they got to go out, right? I mean, look at those happy faces! I took this picture of them out the van window as me and Em headed out with all 5 of the kids to go shopping. We had just as eager smiles on our faces too. :-)

Before we left, I took a quick picture of Papa with some of the kids. They love their Papa!! We also took the kids to the nursing home, after we finished shopping. I had talked to the kids privately when Mom got to the house. She wasn't really responding to me and seemed much more disconnected than she was when I saw her last month. I tried to prepare the kids for the changes. It makes them sad, but they still said hi to her and gave her hugs and mom's face lit up when they did. I think it's easier for her mind to stay at rest, so she often seems down and vacant, but when the kids come around, she seems to really be filled with happiness, even if it's short-lived. When we went to visit her, I once again prepared the kids for what they might see or smell at the nursing home, but we all were surprised to see what a great facility it is and that it didn't smell or anything at all. It's been redone since mom worked there 12 yrs ago and looks really pretty inside. Her room (and I'm kicking myself for not taking pictures there!) is really cute. Em and Aunt Phyl decorated it and it looks really pretty. She had so many people send her cards, that they couldn't fit them all on her wall! She's definitely not happy about being there and, with what little communicating skills she has still, she still asks about being home all the time. I tried to explain to her that this is what we feel is best for her with her care, but she just turns away and shuts down. I pray that she will find a measure of acceptance and understand that dad isn't to blame for this change and that it's for her best interests and care that she is there. We'll see if that happens. I pray it does. Even with those difficult moments, it was still a lot of fun to get back and see them all. I know it's hard for my kids to see their grandma that way. They've only ever known her since her stroke, but this decline in her health in recent years has been hard for them. Hard for everyone, really. Just glad they can look past her health and see love there.

Indy Trip

Three years ago, we headed down to Indy to meet up with Pete's college roommates and our ever-growing families. We all met at our friends Ted and Suzy's house. When we got together, we had all of our 3, Corey had a little baby girl, just a few weeks old. Chris came with his little one who was not quite 1, I believe. And, Ted and Suzy just found out they were pregnant with quadruplets!! Corey has since had a son, Chris and Liz are expecting their third, and Ted and Suzy have 4 2yr olds running around now! We weren't all able to get together like we did 3 yrs ago, but we did finally get to meet those quads!



They are the cutest things too. They have 2 boys and 2 girls and they are precious beyond words. And, so quiet too! How my three manage to be several decibles louder than these four is beyond me, but trust me (and my sister can attest to this), they are.

Pete was taking pictures and managed to get all 7 of our kids in one shot! Thought that was pretty impressive!

Here is Pete and his roommate Ted. Ted was in the room right next to Pete during his first two years at the dorm. Ted, Chris, Corey, and Pete all had an apartment together Pete's senior year.

The kids all played bubbles for a while. Unfortunately, I think Noah taught many of them to eat the bubbles and get on the ground and eat them off the ground. Should be fun for Suzy to break them of THAT habit now. ;-)

I brought some flubber for the kids and, though I messed up the recipe, they loved it! It wasn't very stretchable. I'm going to make them a better batch. But, they seemed to like it regardless. In fact, flubber was the theme of this weekend. We took it to the Trolingers too and my nephews and niece couldn't get enough of it! I'm going to be making a lot of flubber this week!

Dahlia played with the girls a lot. She wasn't shy at all with us and was very, very sweet. Lucy was shy at first, but warmed up very quickly and flashed us those dimpled smiles on several occasions.

Isaac and Livie chased each other around this bus and Isaac was just laughing and laughing. It was so cute!!

So, here we are and we had a great time together! Especially when we found out it was Suzy's 35th birthday! I felt a little old, but once I celebrated my bro-in-law Jeff's bday on Sunday and celebrated his 26th birthday, I didn't seem to mind Suzy's 35th one quite as much. ;-)

New Step

Madie finally had that expander removed last week and this week she got her retainer! Things have improved since I was a kid, because she got to pick what color she wanted. She got like a grey, glitter kind. :-) Really cute .... well, cute for a retainer anyway. She's growin' up!

MY Open House

I titled this blog "MY Open House", because we're going to have two this week and I wanted to clarify which one I'm discussing today. :-) As many of you know, I'm going back to work next week after a 10 stint as a stay-at-home mom. Now, granted, it's only one day a week, but I'm very, very excited about it! I'm going to be lead teacher for the 2 yr old parent/child class. I'll have two classes on Friday mornings with a total of around 13-14 kids. Audrey, my co-teacher, and I set the classroom up yesterday morning to get it ready for all our students. We got to meet them and their parents last night. It was great!




Because I never seem to want to do anything the simple way, I decided that I wanted to draw their coloring sheets, so they had characters they recognized with welcome greetings on them. :-) So, I did some Ni Hao Kai-lan characters, Yo Gabba Gabba, Wonder Pets, and Wow Wow Wubbzy. They kids seemed to like them. :-)

We will have stations each week, set up with stuff to follow our theme for the day. Last night we set up a coloring page section (obviously) and this was the playdough section. This was the most popular site of the night! I'll put the homemade playdough recipe at the bottom of this blog. So easy to make and really fun for the kids! The gal in the foreground is my co-teacher, Mrs. Garkey.

We had this water table set up and a matching game on the small table. The water table was another hit. And, amazingly, even with all those 2 yr olds in the room, not a whole lot of water got on the floor!

One of the great things about our class is that the child will get to learn and experience new things with their parents by their side. Here, Bailey's mom is reading her a story.

Looks like we're going to have a bunch of great kids! The only incident of the night was after everyone had left and we were getting ready to clean-up, one of the dads came back to alert us to the fact that he thinks he just saw a bat flying around. Now, if you know me, you know that I loathe bats. Not just hate them. LOATHE. Peggy, the director went out in the hallway to check and I closed the door behind her. Yes, I admit, I am a coward and willing to sacrifice my friends to protect myself. Even as I heard her screaming, I did not offer her refuge in our room. She came in a few moments later and said she just saw it and we huddled inside trying to figure out a way to escape without being attacked by the flying devil bird. Long story short, we made it out alive, without an further bat incident, but definitely not what I was wanting to see after a fun evening with my students!! Nor, did I want the first impression given to the parents of me to be me running down the hall, screaming, while I run over their children in an attempt to escape. Thankfully, it didn't come to that, but I told Audrey and Peggy last night, I make no apologies for what happens when a bat and I come face-to-face. It ain't gonna be pretty, let me tell you!

Anyway, looking forward to GREAT year with those adorable kids!!! I'm so lucky to be given this opportunity and to work with such a fantastic gal like Audrey! Can't wait for the 9th!

Playdough Recipe:

1 c water

1 c flour

2 tsp Creme of Tarter

1 Tb cooking oil

1/2 c salt

food coloring

Mix all of the ingredients, except for the food coloring. Microwave it for 1 min and stir. Cook for another 30 sec, stir. Keep repeating until the playdough is dough-ish. It will usually take 3 x 30 sec to make the perfect combination. Knead the playdough and then knead in the food coloring.

What a Surprise!

I got home late last night from my time out with my friends, so I didn't see the kids before they went to bed. When I woke up this morning, Pete told me Livie had something to tell me. I tried to get him to tell me, since I'm not the most patient person, but he said he promised Livie she could tell me. Just a short while later, she woke up and comes in my room crying. I noticed through those tears there's a gap in her smile!! She had a fiver in her hand, her tooth in a baggy in the other, and I said, "You lost a tooth!!"

Now, I had NO idea she even HAD a loose tooth! She had told me that she had a loose tooth, but I just figured she was trying to be like her brother and sister and gave no consideration at all that it actually might be loose. I mean, if you know my kids, none of them ever lose their teeth in Kindergarten! Well, she eventually calmed down after Madie told her she was cute without her tooth, but told me that she wasn't going to smile at all today, because she didn't want anyone to know. We'll see if that actually happens or not. I'm sure once her teacher sees the missing tooth, she'll be quite proud of herself. It was just such a surprise!!

Girls Night with a Twist

Last night was our monthly Girls Night, but this time we got to do a little something special! We got to celebrate the impending arrival of our first Girls Night baby!! Our friend Shawn is due with her first in just 5 weeks. She doesn't know what she's having, so we're all making our guesses. :-)



Two of our "committee" members have moved this summer, but before Gwen moved in July, she got us all together to get her the Baby Bullet. Shawn is very health conscience (that's why she looks so great!), so Gwen thought she would love to have the ability to make her own baby food.

Looks like she liked it!! We're so excited to get to meet this sweet little guy or gal she's carrying. :-)