The Big ONE

The family gathered yesterday to celebrate Isaac's first birthday.  We've had a full year of joy with this  boy who is easy-going and appropriately named as he laughs easily.  

We didn't want to take away from Isaac, but his party was the best opportunity we've had to finally give Dad his birthday gift. It took some time to get Dad's birthday gift ready.  We had the pictures made (see this post -1st Cousins) after his birthday and then had to wait on the prints and wait for a time when everyone would be there.  I think he really liked it, and I think he was surprised despite the fact that we actually posted a couple of those pictures on social media and didn't block him from seeing them.

Nothing says "Happy Birthday" like a haircut.  Our family is so weird.  Tiffany cuts our hair, and she often spends the greater portion of family parties doing it since it is hard to get together with her.

Isaac was really good for his haircut.  He squirmed but never cried.  We were surprised, but Tiffany said that's normal for his age.  She said they usually start crying at Ira's age (2 years), but Ira loves having his hair cut, so no tears from him either.

lemonade cake - yum

I am not sure why the icing looks yellow in the picture.

Isaac enjoyed his cake though I wish Danielle and her mom had waited to serve the guests so that they could enjoy this birthday moment with him.  I am thankful for the technology that allowed Jonathan and me both to record video of it for them.  Isaac was quite nonchalant about the whole thing -such a laid back kid, but I did learn yesterday that he won't let his big brother run all over him.  He will defend himself.

Isaac does not look like my side of the family.  I think he looks like his maternal grandma.  Regan and Ira both have some similarities to my side of the family.  Regan definitely has her momma's eyes, but she resembles Jonathan too.  Ira looks so much like my dad and Jonathan that when we post pictures of him on Facebook, Facebook's face recognition always tries to tag my dad.  It will be so fun to watch these three grow up and see how much Regan ends up looking like her mom and Ira like his dad and then Isaac who looks like his grandma.

His big gift will be a lifesaver for his parents I think. There is something to do on every side for every kid.

Somebody got out the water hose (actually I think it was Regan).  The parents were inside, and I wasn't telling - well, at least not until the kids were soaked.  This boy loves the water, and he has his many tantrums daily, but he makes me want a two-year-old in my house again.  

It was a wonderful party as always.  Happy Birthday, Isaac!  We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with this crew.

Celebrating 70 Years

We gathered on Sunday, June 30th to celebrate my dad's birthday.  We tried to fix his favorite meal, and I think we were successful other than giving up on the coleslaw which was fine because he likes salad too.  My sister-in-law, Danielle, managed to pull off one of my dad's favorite desserts beautifully. She used my grandma's cream pie recipes.  I had forgotten how good those pies were. I tried to buy Dad one a couple of years ago from a really good local baker, and it was horrible.  I may have to make them sometime now that I have the recipe in hand.  Danielle's double chocolate cake was spectacular too!

Dad let Regan help with the candle.  He was in rare form.  Normally camera shy, he actually asked for pictures with his cars for his Facebook page.  Then he had me help him load several other pictures on the page as well.  I know Dad loves looking at pictures.  He must visit the pages of those on his friend list and just click through their profile pictures.  He wanted his pictures set up that way, so I had to change his profile picture seven times so that you can click through the various pictures together on his page.

trying to get a good shot of my oldest two, the neglected when it comes to pictures

photo bomb fun

Happy Birthday, Dad!

42 years ago today

It was 42 years ago today that my parents married.  I don't really remember their story.  I know they met through work and that they hadn't known each other long when they married.  They broke off their engagement and then got back together at the last minute and pulled the wedding together.

For whatever reason, they did not have the engagement ring right away, so they bought a ring out of a bubble gum machine.  Mom wore it around, and they both got a kick out of the reactions of their friends.  Apparently, very few people called their bluff and most people oohed and ahed over the obviously fake ring.  This just shows how goofy my parents were right from the start.  They maintained a pretty good sense of humor over the years.  You really have to do that if you are going to raise six kids.

It was my hope that we would be throwing a 50th wedding anniversary party for them someday.  My mom would have loved it,  Dad-not so much.  

It has really crossed my mind this week that life is different without my mom.  I was at my dad's house picking up the kids yesterday and thinking "what would Mom do with this?"  Tiffany and the boys are there so much.  What advice would she have for my widowed sister? Would the kids be driving her nuts, or would she be having a ball with them all there so much?  I wonder if Tony would be here if not for Mom's death.  She was a nurse and may have caught his need for medical intervention if she were here.  

We have continued with our traditions.  The cookouts at my parents house go on, and they are not as hard as you would think because, well, there are so many of us.  Vacation will be different, however.  Tony always spent the day poolside.  It will be strange to head to the pool and not find him there.  Mom was adventurous.  She would go with the group that wanted to ride jet skis and join them.  She would relax in the ocean when the waves were calm.  We would all hang out there and chat.  Mom generally found the condos or house we would rent.  We typically would eat out one meal, and Mom often searched for the restaurant with the right reviews and price point for our dinner out.  Unfortunately, she did not feel well for our last two vacations.  In 2009 she was recovering from major surgery and had to take it easy.  Last year she was battling for her life.  We all decided that we must go on vacation this year, but I wonder if this will be our last one.  Tony felt strongly about vacation.  He worked hard all year for that one week of reprieve.  Mom felt strongly about vacation.  She felt like we were making up for the years when we were kids and did not take vacations...ever.  I am not sure that the rest of us, aside from Josh, feel so strongly about this.  Don't get me wrong.  I think it is very important to take a week away with your family and will always fight to make that happen, but economically, it is so much harder than it used to be, and we go about as cheap as you can.  Vacations for a group as big as ours take lots of planning and hunting for a place to stay, so they are lots of work.  

Someone told me that it takes six months after the death of someone who suffered from a long illness to grieve that person as they were when they were healthy.  I am beginning to understand that as I am beginning to remember my mom when she was healthy and enjoyed travel and adventures and could do things with the grandkids.

I have heard it said that the saddest words in the English language are "what might have been."  That is where I am today, wondering what might have been.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Dad is pretty adamant about not having his picture taken, so I  do the best I can.

Last night we gathered at my dad's house to celebrate his birthday.  He wanted us all there, so he paid for most of the dinner.  Dad likes to have the family all together, and I think he would like for us all to move in with him.  Because my sister works third shift, Austin and Logan have been staying at Dad's house during the week.  He then brings them out to join us a the pool a few days a week.

Jonathan was working late, so he and Danielle arrived after Regan's (9 months old) bedtime. She was still so much fun even though she was tired.  Every time Jonathan walked past her, whether he looked her way or not, Regan's face would light up and she would grin.  She definitely loves her daddy, but she saves all her kisses for her mom.  Jonathan gets no kisses from her which I blame on his beard, but she won't even let him have them when he shaves it off.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Leaves, a tree, and back to decisions

After the devastating news that hit last Thursday, I pretty much came home and went to bed.  As tired as I was, I thought I would sleep the afternoon away, but that did not happen as I was too upset.  Mom talked with the doctor and learned that the cancer has spread to the area outside her liver and to her colon.  She resumes chemo on Tuesday, and apparently there has been some good results with this chemo, so we continue to hope and pray.  Our hope is not in chemo or surgery but in Christ.  I know that my mom is in a win-win situation.  She can recover and spend more time with us or go explore her mansion, physically hug Jesus, reunite with relatives missed and live where it is said that one day in the courts is better than a thousand elsewhere (not necessarily in that order).  This, however, is not a win-win situation for me.

On Friday I gave my two weeks notice to my part-time employer.  Much like the decision to seek and subsequently take this job weighed on my mind, my decision to leave is constantly on my mind.  I resigned because this is retail, and it is a small enough store that often only two people are scheduled.  Given that set-up, I feel like I can't leave on a moment's notice, and I feel like I need to be able to do that.  However, the discount is nice, and if we can ever pull enough money together to replace some furniture that is in bad need of replacement (ie. the kitchen table and chairs since we can't all six sit at the table at this time), the discount combined with the sale prices could make some very nice furniture affordable.  The people I work with there are super, and the kicker is that I received my first school paycheck yesterday.  I could not determine my pay last year when I was trying to work with the school on Julia's tuition.  School pay is a complicated thing.  I knew there was a possibility that my pay would drop, and it did.  Therefore, I am not sure I can afford to leave this job.  My kids are bothered by this set-up, and much as I like the job, it has been difficult to run the household with this added responsibility.  My manager has offered to keep me on if I will work one shift a week.  I am in a quandary about what to do.

Saturday found us in a different sort of mess.  Savannah has a leaf project due on the 14th. She needs to find and identify 40 leaves for this project.  We joined a few of her friends and a couple of moms at a local cemetery to collect the leaves.  This cemetery marks many of their trees, so we were able to collect 40 leaves and now she faces the task of compiling this project and finding the scientific names.  I am grateful to the security guard who granted us permission to pick the leaves off of the trees as we could not find any on the ground.  Why would this project be given at this time of year with the specification that the kids could not pick the leaves? I never complain about school projects, but I may do that on this one.

I had never been to this cemetery and plan to take Wyatt and Julia back to feed the ducks, a childhood pastime that they missed because my grandmother was no longer able to do this by the time they joined the family.  I also want to explore this very old, serene, and beautiful cemetery.  I came home to a lovely surprise.  My original intention before I became distracted by school projects and life was to paint a small area off of the kitchen on Saturday.  It was a much needed task.  I worked on prepping the walls on Friday evening, and returned from the cemetery on Saturday to find that Andy had completed the first coat.  The walls improved immensely with just that one coat of paint.  Andy hates the color on the kitchen walls (a Dijon mustard yellow), so he quickly pointed out that the contrast made the kitchen walls look awful.  Guess what is prepped and ready for paint today:)

We are in the process of fixing things like our broken closet doors and painting walls in desparate need.  Unfortunately, we are also tearing things up as we go.  When I was putting on the second coat of paint, Zach walked under the area where I was working, and paint dripped on his shirt.  Without realizing it was there, he promptly sat on my favorite couch.  Andy replaced our broken closet doors last night, but he slammed the trunk down on his GPS when trying to load up everything for Savannah's field hockey game yesterday.  (sigh) I, for one, am beyond tired of this recession.

Julia had a family tree project due on Monday...as if there was not enough going on here without school projects.  She used the pictures at the end of this post.


Today I have a special plan for Wyatt.  I am struggling to afford this, but Wyatt is kind of the left out kid right now.  We are going on a family outing to see a cave (something he has wanted to do all summer). He has been fascinated with rocks and crystals lately, and there is a place where he can "pan" for cool rocks at this particular cave.  I would wait to do this, but this is the last weekend that this place is open for the season.  He is one pumped little guy!

The following pictures are from Julia's family tree project:

Andy's side of the family

This picture of Andy's parents is quite old.

This picture of Andy's sister Pam with her husband Mike is also quite old.

Page is Pam's and Mike's daughter.

Mitchell is Pam's and Mike's son.

Andy's sister Dianna with her boys, Alex and Ben.

My parents and my sister Tiffany with her husband Tony and their boys, Austin and Logan.

Tara and Jonathan

Tessa and Joshua

For our family we used the blog home page picture.

40 Years!

This is my mom and dad. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary today. The older of these two pictures was taken about 28 years ago, and the newer picture was taken on a trip to Mexico (I believe) in 2007.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

We love you.

Good Grief!!

The news to hit this family yesterday is that my youngest sister who is a DECADE younger than me needs a hip transplant. She is on crutches in the meantime. Good Grief!

a medical year

• Dad is almost finished recovering from surgery and plans to have a knee replacement later this year. Shall we say bionic man?
• Mom is coming home from surgery and is hoping to have her neck surgery later this year.
• It looks like Wyatt will have another surgery this year too.

Can we get a group discount? :)

"his" surgery

so far, so good for Dad. His surgery went well, and he is starting the recovery process. He will be home from the hospital tomorrow.

His and Hers

A few years ago my parents had "his" and "hers" kidney stones. Yes, most people get towels, but they journeyed through painful kidney stones together and did so with a sense of humor as the "his and hers" joke originated with them. They are about to do another "his and hers" recovery together. This time they are both having surgery and hoping for full recovery before my brother's July 12th wedding. Dad has surgery scheduled this Wednesday (the 20th) to have an internal defibrillator implanted (I've been saying installed, but that makes him sound like a computer). Mom will follow with surgery on her lower back for spinal stenosis on June 1st. Both will face rather lengthy recoveries, so please pray for them. You might also want to pray a little extra for Dad's nurses as he is easily bored, can't stand to be still and is generally an impatient patient.