February in California

Yes, I have gotten behind in posting once again. So it's time to play catch-up---starting with our trip to California from Feb. 5-13. We had a great time, as we always do when we go there. And we got lots of time with Josie and Evan, which is, of course, the main reason for our visits.

We got a really great air fare this time from Milwaukee to Ontario, and our flights went well. We did have to hustle to catch our connecting flight in Denver, because we left Milwaukee a bit late. But we made it, which is all that matters.  We decided to rent a car this time, so we drove ourselves from Ontario to Redlands. When we got to the house, Josie came running down the sidewalk to greet us and to tell us that she and Mommy were making cupcakes for us. :)

We arrived on a Tuesday, which is normally a work day for Cheryl, but Josie had been sick and so she had switched her days around that week. So she worked Wednesday instead, which gave us an extra day of babysitting---that was fine with us! I had wondered if Evan might be a little shy with us, since he hadn't seen us for a few months.  He was shy......for maybe 5 or 10 minutes. He very quickly bonded with both of us. :) 

Such sweet faces!

Evan really loves Josie's slide. He loves to climb up and then just stand at the top, giving his grandparents great anxiety.  Grandpa tried to stay close by when Evan headed for the slide. He needed a little help to get into a sitting position, and then he'd be off down the slide. He loved it! By the time we left, he was learning to get himself seated at the top (sometimes) and he'll probably soon be going down headfirst on his tummy.  He really does not have much sense of fear! 

On Friday Josie goes to Tumble Tots, her gymnastics class. We took her to her class this time, and Cheryl stayed home with Evan. Unfortunately all the pictures I took there are on the i-pad, and I don't know if I can get them onto this blog.  If I figure out how to do that, I'll add them. It's fun to watch Josie doing all her activities---each one ends with a "Ta-daa!!"

Well, I totally amazed myself and figured out how to send a picture from the ipad to the computer, and then figured out how to get it onto this blog. Will wonders never cease!?!?!  So here is Josie doing her balance beam routine at Tumble Tots. Didn't catch the "Ta-daa!" when she was done, though.

On Saturday was the Calvin-Hope basketball game and we all went to watch that at a local restaurant. 

We were decked out in our Calvin shirts, Josie had a pom pom, there were balloons, and lots of cheering for the Knights.  But in the end we went home disappointed---Hope won the game.

On Sunday afternoon we took a little drive up into the mountains so that the kids could play in the snow. The snow was not that much of a novelty for us, but it sure was fun to watch Josie and Evan having fun.

Evan in his froggy hat and mittens--just about the cutest thing ever!

One of the many times Josie had to have her mittens put on.

Checking out someone else's snowman.

Putting the mittens on again.

Oops, she's missing a mitten again.

And so is Evan.

Here are a few random pictures of our last couple of days there.

Evan definitely approves of Grandpa's pancakes!

Josie is off to the park with Grandpa, riding in style!

A little ball game in the front yard. 

A visit to Redlands is not complete without a meal at Chick-fil-A! I love that place! And so do the kids. 

I know they are barely visible, but both Evan and Josie are up in the play structure. We were a little worried about how Evan was going to get down, since he didn't seem to want to try the slide. Fortunately he did come back down the same way he had gone up----very carefully on the steps.

On our last morning there, I invoked "Grandma privileges" and gave the kids their Valentines a day early.

This meant lollipops right after breakfast, followed by baths.

It's a bit of a challenge to get Evan to sit still for a picture!

Such a pretty girl!

And one last group shot before we had to leave. So hard to say good-bye!

Next post, coming soon (hopefully) will feature Jeremiah's 3rd birthday! Stay tuned!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

I don't know if other mothers are like me, but I get rather sentimental on the birthdays of my kids.  Back when I was first writing posts on the "old" family blog, I wrote something on each of their birthdays, reminiscing about the day of their birth. And each year following that I would go back and re-read those posts, sometimes even shedding a tear or two. (silly, sentimental me!)  Of course when that blog mysteriously disappeared, those posts disappeared as well, which made me very sad.

February 8, 1981, was a very special day, because that's the day that Benjamin David joined our family.  I don't think I can come up with another "reminiscing" post, so I'm just going to share some pictures of Ben's early years.  (I couldn't include pictures in those earlier posts, because I didn't know how to scan pictures. Now that I know how to do that, nobody's old pictures are safe!)

Here he is, brand new, all 10 pounds 13 ounces of him!!

All dressed up for Baptism.  Ben couldn't wear the same outfit that Matt had worn for baptism because he was too big.  I think it fit him when he was 2 weeks old, but he was 6 weeks old when he was baptized.

6 months old----what a happy guy!

I think this was taken at Bates Nut Farm.

Spending time with Grandpa on one of our Michigan visits.

Anyone who knew Ben when he was little also knew Woo-woo, Ben's constant companion. He pretty much went everywhere with Ben, and I think he might even have been on our family's picture in the church directory one year. I think it was on Ben's 2nd birthday that I decided to be really creative, and instead of following a pattern for a dog, or a clown, or a rocket ship cake, I would see if I could make a cake that looked like Woo-woo.  And here is the result....

I think Ben may actually be saying "Woo-woo!"

I had to include this picture, because it shows the cake with "Old Woo-woo" on one side and "New Woo-woo" on the other side.  Both of them, and also a larger version that came later, were gifts from Pat and Anita.

Getting a haircut from Aunt Jeanie

This is another Michigan picture, this one with Aunt JoAnne I think. Notice that Woo-woo is there, too.

But eventually Woo-woo was replaced by a real, live puppy.  Wasn't Muffin just the cutest puppy you've ever seen?  Actually, they're a pretty cute pair, I think.

And this is my all-time favorite school picture of Ben.  I love the toothless smile! According to the note on the back it was 2nd grade.

So that's my trip down Memory Lane, revisiting Ben's childhood.  Don't worry---the rest of you will get your turns. :)

January

Well, January is over, and it pretty much lived up to the title of this blog--Life in the Slow Lane.  It was a pretty quiet month here on Evergreen Court---no visits from kids and grandkids, no long trips, not a whole lot of excitement.  But somehow we managed to keep fairly busy and the month went by quite quickly.

We did make one trip down to Chicago on the 3rd. We stopped first at Abby's apartment and had a little visit with her and her friends, Ashly and Lauren.  Ben also stopped by for a a few minutes.  I delivered some olie bollen and other treats to them.  We then went on to spend some time with Roger and Sheryl.  We had a wonderful, relaxing day with them.  Sheryl humored  me and got a puzzle out, which kept me occupied for the whole afternoon (while visiting, of course.)  We got to spend a little time with Anna, Will and Charlie, who came over for dinner and a sleep-over.  We hadn't seen them for a long time, so that was a treat. We also talked quite a bit with Roger and Sheryl about taking a little trip together in the fall, when they will both be retired as well.

Dad has added a couple of new activities to his schedule.  He is doing some work for Dordt (yes, Dordt---can you believe it?) and is supervising a girl who is doing her student teaching in the Milwaukee area.  So he has made a few visits to her school, to meet with her and to observe her teaching. He has also started volunteering at Cross Trainers, which is the Christian School that meets at the Milwaukee Rescue Mission.  He goes two mornings a week, and tutors kids one-on-one in reading and math.  He is really enjoying that!  He has also been going with me to help out in the nursery during MOPS at our church, if he isn't busy with one of his other activities.

And we continue to enjoy our time with little Erin Dooyema who I take care of two days a week.  She and Dad have become quite good buddies.  In fact, her Grandma may be a bit jealous because last Sunday Dad got bigger smiles from her at church than her Grandma did! We think she might be starting to say "Bob," but it might be "ball" or "book."

We've also been attending some basketball games to see the Jeninga kids play.  Maddy plays at Brookfield Christian and James is on the JV at Milwaukee Lutheran. 

Panera continues to be a big part of our Fridays.  A group of senior citizens from our church meets there for coffee on Friday mornings, and we usually go for that.  I sometimes have to miss that if it's a day when I have Erin.  And the group has been getting smaller and smaller as more and more of the people had to Florda. And then Friday evenings we are there again for dinner with the Brassers.  The last two Fridays, though, we've gone to see James play basketball instead.  His games are at 5:45, so then we have gone somewhere closer to his school after the game.
 
I've been doing a lot of puzzling. I started out with the one that Abby gave me for Christmas, and since then I've done 4 others. As you all probably know, this is definitely MY project--Dad pretty much considers it a waste of time. I kind of figure that if I do it while I watch TV in the evening, my two time-wasting activities kind of cancel each other out.  I will probably start another one this evening while Dad watches the Super Bowl and I watch the commercials.

We've been having kind of a strange winter, weather-wise.  We've had a couple of cold spells, but also a couple of stretches with unusually warm temperatures.  I think last week we had 60+ degrees and then two days later it was below zero, with the wind chill. We also have not had very much snow---we've gotten just a few inches at a time, and of course with that 60 degree weather we lost what we had then.  We now have maybe 3 to 4 inches on the ground.

February looks to be a busier month. We actually started it out with another drive to Chicago yesterday. We went down to have lunch with Ben and Abby to celebrate Ben's birthday a bit early.  Then we're flying to CA this Tuesday and will be back on Wed. the 13th.  And then on the 16th we'll be going to Iowa for the week-end to celebrate Jeremiah's 3rd birthday.  I sure hope the weather doesn't interfere with any of these plans! 

So....no pictures to accompany this post. I'm sure there will be pictures in the next couple of posts.

Christmas in Brookfield

We were happy to have the Midwest kids all here with us for a few days over Christmas.  The Wissinks and Abby and Neil arrived on Saturday, the 22nd, and Ben joined us on Sunday.

After church on Sunday some of us (Rachel, Abby, Neil and I) drove to Cedarburg for lunch at the Cream and Crepe Cafe and some shopping.  We noticed some new items on the menu, and some of us even tried them instead of our old favorites. We didn't actually do much shopping--just hit a few shops, ending with a stop at Amy's for some chocolate and caramel apples to take home.  The others (Dad, Adam and Jeremiah) had lunch at Panera and then went home for naps and football on TV.  In the evening we went over to Brassers for some visiting and some apple pie.  Ben arrived during that time and joined us there.

Monday was Christmas Eve, and since we were planning our usual appetizer menu for the evening, we decided to go out for our main meal at lunch time.  We went to Bravo at Brookfield Square, after striking out with our first two choices (not open on Christmas Eve). We discovered that they do something really neat for the kids---the waitress brought Jeremiah a little plate with a ball of bread dough and he could just play around with that while we waited for our food.  She said that they would even take it back and bake it for him if that's what he wanted, but we didn't opt for that.

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve service at 5 p.m. and then came home for our appetizer feast and gift-opening.  It was a great evening, and obviously Jeremiah was pretty much the star of the show (as you can see from the pictures.)

Jeremiah enjoying his Christmas Eve goodies.

Abby's gift for Jeremiah was a construction themed Play-do set.

Checking out the construction machinery

Yes, the adults did receive gifts, too.

Neil, Abby and Dad checking out their gifts

I wish that I had some audio to accompany this next picture. Rachel got a video of it but I don't have that. 

"MY BOAT!! I FINALLY GOT MY BOAT!!"

This is one happy boy!!

Checking out the remote-control truck that came with his construction set. I think you can catch a glimpse of Ben in the background, proof that he was here.

Modeling his Hawkeye helmet---just part of his uniform from Matt and Cheryl.

Christmas morning brought butterhorns, cinnamon rolls (for someone who doesn't like butterhorns) and.....STOCKINGS!  

"Hmm, is there anything else in there?"

Here he's looking at what was probably the "most annoying" gift---a harmonica. Josie got one, too.  I couldn't resist when I saw these at the Music Museum in Traverse City last fall. A Grandma is allowed to give annoying gifts, right?  And who knows---maybe they will become accomplished harmonica players.

A big bear hug!

Oh, the adult kids also got stockings---just no pictures taken.  I should have gotten them all to pose holding their dental floss. After stockings we had more food---a couple of brunch casseroles. 

Abby is re-living her childhood, playing with Jeremiah and his Play-do construction set. 

In the afternoon the adult kids joined the throngs of people at the movie theater while Jeremiah and the grandparents stayed home for a nap. And then we had our Christmas dinner.  Somewhere in there, we also watched some holiday movies and played Scattergories.

It was time to say good-bye again on the day after Christmas.  Abby and Neil left at about 9 to drive to Ohio to spend time with Neil's family.  Ben left at around 11 because he had to work later in the afternoon.  

We had one more day to spend with the Wissinks, though.  Grandpa brought out the old plastic sled for a little fun in the snow. Jeremiah was not quite sure what he thought about that.  He did get a little ride around the yard....

....and one trip down the little "hill" across the street with his Mommy.

And then he learned how to make a snow angel.

Good job, Jeremiah!

Late that afternoon we went downtown Milwaukee to see the Christmas lights and displays that they have.  We started out with dinner at Pot Belly.

Jeremiah liked our restaurant choice.

After dinner we walked a few blocks to the BMO Harris Bank Building where they always have a special Christmas display in their lobby. 

Jeremiah posing with one of the bears.

That's a train engine behind Jeremiah, and he really thought that he should be able to go for a ride on it. It wasn't that kind of train.

Getting bundled up for another cold walk. 

We had one little glitch in our plans for the evening.  We were planning to ride the Jingle Bus that would take us around to all the downtown parks so that we could see all the different light displays.  Unfortunately, I had not read the online info carefully enough---it was Wednesday, and the Jingle Bus only runs Thurs. to Sunday. In my defense, when I checked the info again, I saw that this detail appeared at the very bottom of the article that I had read. So that called for Plan B--we drove out to Waukesha and took in the drive-through light display at Country Springs Hotel.  That was enjoyable, but what Jeremiah really liked came after that.  You can go into a building where they have a really neat model train display. 

The next day it was time to say good-bye to the Wissinks.  But before they left, Jeremiah entertained himself with a new game. He dumped out a bag full of trash (mostly wrapping paper) and then picked it all up with my salad tongs and put it back into the bag.  Kept him busy while Adam and Rachel were busy packing up for the trip home.

And then he posed for one last picture before they headed out.  Notice that he is still holding the salad tongs. :)

And after they left, the house seemed incredibly quiet.  We're getting used to that again.  So why has it taken me 2 weeks to get this blog post done?  Good question!