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!

California Visit, part 5---early Birthday/Christmas

Since we were not going to be in California for Josie's birthday or for Christmas this year, we did a bit of early celebrating while we were there.  Part of Josie's birthday gift from us was a visit to "Build-a-Bear" to make the stuffed animal of her choice.  And Josie picked.......

 

...a pink "Hello Kitty!"

Helping Daddy fill out the "adoption certificate."

Before we left the store we picked out a cute outfit for "Hello Kitty" complete with underpants and tennis shoes.

The night before we left we did a bit of early birthday and Christmas gift-opening. Josie opened one birthday present and the kids each opened one Christmas present. I didn't think Josie would be too excited about the birthday gift, which was clothes. Boy, was I wrong! 

Josie's reaction: "I LOVE it!!!

Josie opening her doctor kit.

Evan opening his toy alligator. 

I think we maybe should have switched those gifts around. Notice what Evan has in his hand in each picture, while looking at his toy---the syringe from Josie's doctor kit.  

And look who really loves the toy alligator!

 Cheryl is trying to get Dr. Josie's pager to work. 

Josie was happy to model her new outfit (which she LOVES) while making many laps around the couch pulling Evan's alligator, with Evan following (or leading).

This is the final installment of the California Visit. Next up will be a report on Christmas in Brookfield.

California Visit, Part 4---Fun with Josie and Evan

Of course the best part of our visit was the time we could spend with Josie and Evan.  We were able to babysit several days. On those days, Josie and Grandpa often took a walk together to the park in the morning while Evan napped.  I think they both really enjoyed their time together---Josie liked having Grandpa all to herself, and I think Grandpa felt the same way about Josie. I think they did lots of "chatting" on these outings.

So here are just some random pictures of the kids:

The first day we were there we all walked to a school playground nearby.

On Friday we got to go along and watch Josie at "Tumble Tots."

The most important part is the "Ta-Daa!"

" Hey, who locked this gate??"

 Sippy cup in one hand, drum stick in the other.

Evan really likes phones, or anything that looks like a phone.

Here he is, holding the phone to his ear and saying "Hello!"

Enjoying a french fry at Chick-fil-A

Enjoying some of Grandpa's pancakes.

Yes, they are blue. Special order. :)

We are always amazed at how gentle Amos is with both of the kids. When we play with Amos, throwing a ball or rawhide, there is no way that we can get the thing away from him once he has it. He always wants to make it a game of  "tug-of-war." But he will give it up to one of the kids every time---he just gently drops it or lets them take it from him. Notice how he is just watching Evan with the ball---doesn't even try to take it. Good dog, Amos! 

I had to get a picture with the Calvin bib. :)

Practicing "So Big" with Grandpa

I think we're almost done with the California posts---probably one more installment. And then we'll move on to Christmas!